Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
by WhtsThFrequency
Summary: [Sequel to The Lives Men Lead] Old friends from past days return, new threats emerge on the forefront, and what was once simple just got a whole lot more complicated. Almost finished...time for the Boys to kick some ass.
1. Somebody That I Used To Know

**CHAPTER 1**

**ALLRIGHT! Here we go! Don't worry ladies and gents – some familiar and much-loved characters ****will be returning**** in this installment – just who, you ask? Well, I ain't gonna tell you yet! **

**I know I finished the first one fast…it was sort of a practice one since Lord, I haven't wrote fic in years…but this one is going to be more involved. I probly won't update quite as often but will do my best!**

**ARIZONA, 4 AM**

Love. To be honest, the word rather humiliated him. Verbal displays of affection were never his strong suit.

The word still came out sounding like it had squeezed between gritted teeth and gotten mangled on the way out.

However, there he was, and there she was. Damn it all to hell. She was the girl who could stare down a cobra…and then proceed to hit it dead between the eyes with a throwing knife, wrestle it down, skin it, and make herself some new boots. The word 'love' didn't even begin to cover it. It was some kind of a stunned fascination. But right now, sweet nothings were the last thing on David's mind.

"Holy SHIT!"

"I _told_ you not to touch it."

"It BIT me! Stung me, spiked me whatever the hell it did! FUCK!"

"Serves you right for not listening."

David sucked on his arm where the quills had entered. A hedgehog waddled off through the grass in front of him, grumbling to itself about being disturbed by a strange-looking but clumsy animal. Cate stood next to him, leaning on her bow. "That had got to be one of the stupidest things I have ever seen you do." David plucked out the quills with his teeth and muttered under his breath. Cate leaned over, putting a hand to her ear in an exaggerated gesture. "What? What was that? Oh, I should listen to Cate. I'll never ignore Cate's advice again. Cate is my intellectual goddess. Cate is..."

"Going down!" He grabbed her and they rolled back and forth in the grass, fangs out in full, each wrenching around and trying to get the upper hand. They may have softened each other up a tad, but in general there was always still the tension of challenge and clash of egos. It was practically a ritual that they had a fistfight at least once a night. Whether it was a common instinct of their nature or just a bizarre display of affection .…neither knew. David was usually the first to get nippy, but no one ever really left marks unless it went on too long.

Cate won quickly, pinning his arms and raising one dark eyebrow. "Oh yeah, and I forgot, Cate is also so much of a better wrestler than me, because for all my big uber-manly strength, I am as thick as a tree trunk when it comes to moves."

David snorted lightly, conceding. "I can't think of any other sire who'd put up with your crap for a minute. Fine. But now it's your turn to decide what to have for dinner. I give up."

His hair was almost blindingly white in the darkness. They had taken a scenic detour on the way to Mesita, New Mexico, putting them a week or two behind schedule, and Cate had convinced him to cut off the longer parts of his hair as the bleached part grew out, leaving it short and a natural lightish brown color. She told him it looked better. Of course, the very next night she came into the abandoned house they were squatting in and smelled peroxide, and David came out of the bathroom grinning from ear to ear. She had been enormously pissed off. However, the sex that night had been pretty damn good. It was always better when they were slightly angry at one another. They had stopped in Sanders, Arizona for the night, only a couple hours away from Mesita. The scenery had been absolutely beautiful. Desert, red cliffs, rock everywhere. Cate loved the area. It was where she had grown up, and memories, both good and bad, flooded back with every town they passed.

By the end of the night they had caught a pair of raccoons ("They taste like ass, especially if they're rabid." David had told her, but at least it was food) and headed back in for the night. They had found a small, run-down barn out in a field, well away from town, and had settled in there for the night. After finishing her meal (and admitting to herself, yes, it tasted like ass) Cate tossed the carcass of the raccoon outside and went to the bike, which was cooling in the back of the barn, and dug around in her bag, finally pulling out a blanket. The nights had started to get chilly despite the heat of the day, and even though her body was now impervious to such weather, it was still nice to sleep under sheets like a normal person, like a human. She still hadn't accepted the change completely. She picked out a place where the hay was already matted and not scratchy, while David tossed his raccoon out, licking his lips distastefully. "Bleh. The things I do for you." He came back to her and pushed aside the blanket to slide in next to her.

"We need to find a laundromat around here. You stink." She made a face.

"You don't smell like your usually flowery self either." He chuckled, stripped off his shirt and settling in.

She turned on her side, putting one arm behind his neck and the other across his chest. "We'll be in Mesita tomorrow."

"Should be." His voice always got rougher when he spoke softly, as if he had sandpaper in his throat. "Are you ready for it?"

"Whether I am or not, got to go ahead and do it."

"That's m'girl." Underneath her voice, he still sensed her uncertainty, and rubbed the side of his face against her forehead.

"Hey, no exfoliating please."

"Heh…sorry. It's hard to shave when you don't have a reflection in the mirror."

"I still manage to shave my legs." If there were two things Cate would absolutely, positively, not go without, even traveling cross country on nothing but a motorcycle, was shaving her legs and washing her hair. Come hell or high water, she'd find a way to do it.

"Yeah, but that's a requirement of the female sex."

"Pig." She ran her fingers lightly in circles over his chest and teasingly pulled some of the dark blond hair on it.

"Ow! Hey, no messing with the fur." He smacked her hand away and rolled over, pretending to be hurt. He could tell she wasn't really in the mood for sex, having a literal garbage heap of other things on her mind, and tried to respect it…but the only way he could keep his hands off her was by literally turning his body around.

"All right, Big Dog."

"That's right. Sleep now, long night tomorrow."

"Yep…" her words dissolved into a yawn as she let her muscles relax. She still wasn't quite sure what to think about the whole "love" situation either. It was rare that either of them actually articulated the word…senses and gestures were enough. At first she had tried to think of him as just her own personal attack dog, a killer who would kill for her if she but pointed. Something she loved, but still something she owned. It was much simpler that way. But the complexity was inevitable. Especially when she sometimes caught him smiling at her. Not the David smirk, not a sneer, but an honest-to-goodness smile. And sometimes at night when she woke up and he was still asleep, seeing the satisfied expression on his face. She still hadn't forgiven him for what he had done to her. It wasn't exactly something that could be forgiven lightly, if at all. Maybe she would harbor it against him forever, or maybe she could find a way to let it go. Only time would tell, and she had a lot of it ahead of her.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting. She felt like she was coming back to a pack of wolves, and if she smelled any different than they remembered, she'd be torn to pieces. Planning the words as they rode alone that night hadn't really helped, it was like trying to think up an election speech on the spur of the moment. Cate wasn't usually prone to nervousness, but when it came to the acceptance of her clan…well, that was different. Plus the fact that she was bringing along a stranger. The hunter clan was extremely wary of outsiders. She hoped her good name could let him in, but it wasn't for certain. She had already prepped him with names and customs, which he shrugged off, muttering crossly that he wasn't "meeting parents over Thanksgiving dinner, for Christ's sake." She desperately wished, for the trillionth time that week, that Tobias was here. She wasn't used to having to stabilize what seemed like an entire rocking topsy-turvy world of trouble on her own. _You're turning into a mother hen, Cate. Quit it before you start sprouting tailfeathers and gray hairs._ With a final stretch of her legs, she tried to match her breathing to David's and sleep.

**NEXT EVENING**

"Catherine! Oh Cate, we heard about Tobias, how are you doing, dear girl?" Cate found herself smothered with hugs and kisses from a tottering old woman.

"I'm doing all right, Rita, thanks."

"Were you hurt?"

"No. We took out Tristan's pack pretty well."

"You and Tobias alone? Bless you child, such fighters. We'll miss him greatly." The old woman sniffled slightly.

Cate extricated herself from the wrinkled arms hugging her and gestured towards David, who was standing quietly by, waiting to be introduced. His stance was slightly off-balance, as his bad knee was bothering him from the cramped ride, but he still cut a respectable posture. "Not all alone. Rita, this is David. A friend from Santa Carla. He's…he offered to join the clan." Rita looked David up and down and pursed her mouth slightly. David took the woman's hand and made a gentlemanly gesture as if to kiss it, flashing a dazzling smile. Rita, however, was a conservative old woman, the type that shooed hooligans like this away from her porch with a broom . She eyed his trenchcoat, bleached hair, and earring, and narrowed her eyes further. The guttural sound of the motorcycle signaling their arrival had not impressed her either. Cate had left with Tobias, a good, upstanding young man, her brother in the clan…and come back with something that looked like it had crawled out of the California underground. It probably had. But as David tilted his head disarmingly and smiled again, she relented – but only slightly. …he was handsome and young enough to make his street-tough appearance marginally forgivable. Only marginally.

The sharp, manipulating intelligence and cruelty behind those blue eyes couldn't be missed, and neither could the falsity of those foxy smiles.

Rita played the part of the clan mother, but she was no coddling, cooeing granny. She was as sharp as a knife's edge and didn't miss a thing. If Cate had come all the way with David, then he was at least worth trusting in terms of being on their side. But she still didn't like his conceited bearing and sly attitude. Outsiders were shady, and outsiders that looked like wolves dolled up in sheeps-down were worse. She turned back towards Cate, ushering her inside. David followed, glancing up at the huge archway. This place was literally a mansion, sitting out in the middle of nowhere in the Mesita city limits. Weird. It had been the only place they had seen for miles. Mesita was more of a small village than anything else. Almost the entire population was Native American, most on the low end of the economic scale. David had felt distinctly out of place when they had stopped to gas up. He was about the whitest person he knew, literally, and got quite a few stares. But this place itself was pretty magnificent. A real old-school mansion, like something on TV. But he didn't miss the subtly hidden defenses as he came in. There were cameras, there were locks, there were countless slits and holes beside all the windows to allow for sharpshooting. He guess this place could become as impenetrable as Alcatraz in under a minute. Rita was still chuntering away to Cate. "We were just about to all sit down to dinner, it's so wonderful to have you back. We'll have to let everyone know, and…introduce your friend." Rita kept urging them on, but in the back of the old woman's mind the image of David's face was bothering her. He looked familiar. Unplaceable, but definitely, familiar.

**A BIT LATER**

Cate had been famished and had eaten more than most of the men at the table. Being a vampire doesn't curb your need for real food – she needed something to keep the living part of her body going. David had maintained scrupulous manners, completely unlike his usual self. Cate was sure Sorscha had put him through the paces in terms of etiquette. She seemed like the type. It was rather funny to see the normally brusque and rude David acting this way. She thought of him ripping into the raccoon's leg, blood running down his chin and the ugly noises of crunching bone, and snickered to herself, picturing him eating at all dainty-like and speaking with a Southern accent. Now THAT was funny.

_Hey there Rhett Butler, doing all right? Do they like those "Sothen' boy" manners?_

_Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn _

He winked at her from across the table and let her know exactly what he wanted to do to her as soon as dinner was over. At times like these, Cate was glad their communication was silent. Scandalous.

After dinner and a short period of subtle alpha-male posturing, David was actually getting along famously with the rest of the young men in the clan. They were engaged in a loud game of cards at the side of the room. Cate could tell he was letting them win. With his vampiric senses, he could see through any poker face, but decided that getting on everyone's good side was the better course of action. Cate was relating the goings-on at Santa Carla to the older members of the clan, who listened intently. She didn't bring up what had happened near the end, still acutely aware that after her brother's death at the hands of a vampire, they might not be quite so willing to accept the turning of one of their own, not to mention the inclusion of an intruder. The leader of the clan was a grave older gentleman with a grandfatherly face that betrayed his serious nature, named Daniel. He was a huge man; huge hands, huge arms, legs, a neck as thick as a horse's thigh, and a bushy salt-and-pepper beard that almost disappeared into his shirt collar. He tapped the table with his huge hands as Cate ended her story with David and herself taking the bike to Mesita. "It was a lot quicker than hopping buses to get down there."

"I'm sure." His voice was extremely deep, slightly muffled by the beard. "And you say David wishes to join the clan?"

"He does."

"Is he from a known family?"

"No…he doesn't exactly have a family. He is under my name, I take responsibility for him"

Daniel made a rumbling cough. "You have a good nature Cate. You learned it from your brother. But we cannot take in every brigand, no matter how well-intentioned, in the streets who wishes to make a mercenary living."

"Not even ones who save my life?" Cate pressed, not wanting the conversation to turn so quickly against David's favor. "He's not just a thug off the streets. He's genuine." Her heart lifted as she saw Daniel's face relent, and the other elders exchange glances. They trusted her family and her name, and she was pushing that trust as far as it would go. It would have to go even farther once she figured out a way to explain why she had no reflection in the mirror, she remembered.

Suddenly there was a roar and crash from the card table. Cate whirled and saw David and a second young man, a few years older but lean almost to the point of wiriness, standing.

_Don't you dare!_ she thought as she sensed amber flecks beginning to sparkle in his eyes. Across the room, David's body relaxed almost imperceptibly. Daniel stood and projected his voice. It sounded like a French horn echoing through the room. "What is this? Adrian, you threaten a guest in our house?"

Adrian blinked his large, pool-blue eyes and took his seat again slowly, crossing one lithe leg over the other in a fluid movement just a tad too graceful to be human. "No." There was a scraping noise as claws retracted against wood, like huge fingernails on a blackboard. "Accidental surprise."

David did not sit. _I do NOT like surprises_. His arrogance has roared to life quicker than his Triumph kicking into high gear and his thoughts towards Cate sounded like they were being directed at a lying subordinate.

_You didn't tell me not everyone in your clan was human._

_Relax. Ade won't hurt you. Watch your tone and drop the machismo, now._

_He's a fucking werewolf, Cate._

Daniel stood and walked over to the boys, his heavy limbs echoing and creaking like moving tree trunks. "I apologize. Some of our youngsters are prone to showing off. I trust that, living in Santa Carla, you are accustomed to things being…out of the ordinary?"

"Yeah – Yes. Sir." The "sir" was rather forced. David could charm up all the ladies in the house but didn't like admitting lower status to another male. "He just surprised me. No harm done."

Adrian's nostrils flared faintly and Cate began to get apprehensive. He was still young, only about her age, and hadn't developed all of his senses yet. But he could smell something that wasn't human. He took a deep breath, disguising it as a conciliatory sigh, but she knew what he was doing. He smelled something wrong with this newcomer. It had become fainter since the anger and surprise had died down, but he hadn't given up trying to subtly pick it up. Whether he could discern exactly what David was, or what she was, she didn't know. But, after a few anxious seconds, Adrian seemed to relax again and offered his hand to David. "Sorry. Didn't mean it. I just can get antsy when I lose." David shook his hand. He didn't like the look in this kid's eyes. It was like there was something in them lurking just below the surface, a creature underneath that blue sea, mocking him, teasing him to try and draw it out, saying "Try me. Just try me." Cate was relieved he has his gloves on.

The chill of his bare skin would be a dead giveaway to anyone, let alone Ade.

**LATER IN THE EVENING**

David was silent as he unpacked his few belongings in the small room he had been given. Cate sat on his bed, waiting until he pulled out of his deep blue funk enough to speak. He had grumbled a bit about how propriety and decorum around family was bullshit, and how they should be able to sleep in the same room if they wanted, and do what they wanted, and make as much noise as they wanted, but that was it. He wasn't just pouting, she could recognize pouting. A pouting David was looking for attention. Right now, it looked like he just wanted to be left alone to stew.

"So what other creepy-crawlies do you have running around here?" his rough voice broke the silence.

"Not very much. Ade and his sister Tara are lycanthropes. Rita is a witch, mostly white magic but she's dabbled in black a few times. Daniel is a shapeshifter but he never does it anymore. That's it."

Tara, she was that one with the big doe eyes who had been checking him out all evening. David made a mental note to pursue that avenue if Adrian decided to piss him off. As long as Cate wasn't watching, that is. Although he hadn't seen a good catfight…scratch that, this would be a bitch-fight…in a while. _Cate and a she-wolf_ _Bitchfight._ David snickered quietly to himself at his own joke, feeling less angry than he did before.

_Very funny_ Cate's mental voice came to his ears. He had forgotten to put up his defenses. Whoops. He shot Cate the old devilish David smile. Cate shook her head as if to say it wasn't going to work this time, and spoke out loud. "I know what you're thinking, about having accepted non-humans here. But vampires are different…that's pushing it. Really pushing it. Having your own prey in your house?"

David was quiet again, moving his lower jaw back and forth slightly, as if tasting the information before swallowing it. "So I take it you haven't told anyone yet?"

"No. I'm figuring that out."

"Well you better figure it out fast, because if it looks like we lied, I can tell that your wolf cubby friend there is going to want to take a nice big chunk out of me."

"I know I'm going to have to figure it out soon. Explaining why we sleep all day and are out all night won't be easy unless I do. And relax, Ade is harmless." Cate moved over and swung her legs back and forth, gently knocking them against David's thigh.

"You didn't see his teeth…."

After shamelessly building David's ego back up with a nippier-than-usual make-out session, and getting him to reluctantly apologize for the caustic thoughts directed her way at dinner, Cate took her leave to go to her own room. She walked down the hallway in her bare feet, feeling the carpeting under them. It was a worn maroon color, dulled but never stained. Rita would have taken the head off anyone who spilled things on her carpet. The feel of it between her toes reminded her of a much longer time ago. She had been only about three and her father had taken them on a trip down to see Daniel. She had been a little terror back then. Running up and down the hall at night to avoid going to bed, hiding under tables, playing too rough with all the boys…

"Catherine." Cate felt breath on her ear and turned quickly. Adrian was behind her. Despite her senses, he was still able to creep up on her like a ghost. "You seem uncomfortable."

Cate matched his eyes. "Why do you say that?"

Adrian reached a hand up towards her cheek and she moved her head away. He laughed softly. "See?"

"My brother just died, Ade."

"Hmmm. No….It's not that." His voice almost purred. She was so used to David's husky baritone, the sound of Adrian's voice was almost foreign. It was light with just a hint of a nasal resonance, just enough to make it sound like he was innocuous and always on your side, but just as sharp and edgy enough to make you realize he wasn't. Without warning his claws came out and he grabbed her chin firmly. Cate froze.

"I knew it."

"Knew what? Get your hands off me."

"That's a nice body temperature you have there. Seventy, seventy-five degrees?"

She grasped his wrist and threw his hand away. He retracted his claws, but there was a feral tinge to his eyes. "Cate, I can understand getting this past the elders, but getting it past me? Did you really think you could?"

"Your sense of smell is getting better, is it?" Cate was fully on the defensive now, muscles tensed. She felt her pupils dilate but carefully controlled the instinct to change face and fang out.

"It's not my sense of smell. You know what it is."

"Don't even try it."

Adrian took a lithe step closer to her. "I'm not trying anything. So who is your friend? Or is he the one that turned you? A sire, a protector?" The purr in his voice deepened. "A lover?"

Cate had long since learned not to be scared of Adrian. She stepped forward as well and placed a hand on his chest, pushing him slowly backwards until he was against the wall in a submissive position. The two locked eyes, a silent battle for superiority raging between blue and brown. Adrian craned his neck forward slightly, but Cate didn't budge. His nose almost touched hers and she heard him draw in a breath. A knowing smile slowly spread across his face

"You _smell_ like him, you know…."

Cate could see the tips of his incisors sharpening slightly. Feeling strangely violated, she gave him her worst sneer. His face still hadn't moved from hers, but his teeth flattened back slightly. He moved sideways against the wall and out of her hand's reach, and she let him go, warily. "I won't go telling your little secret. I'll leave that to you. But I'll be keeping an eye on your friend. For your own protection." He smiled lazily and turned to continue down the hall. "I'll put in a good word for you with the elders after you break the news. I'm sure they can forgive you. I do. But him…tsk tsk, Cate, I really don't know."

Adrian moved silently back down the hall the opposite way he had come, pausing to take a short snort at David's door, like a cat inspecting its food and expressing its dislike, then continuing on.

Cate only slept for a few hours that night, knowing that she had to make some sort of appearance in the morning like a normal person. She had told Daniel that David would probably sleep most of the day, due to the hangover of a bad injury he had sustained a few days before when they ran into a rogue vampire on the way to Mesita. Cate hated lying to Daniel, it was like lying to her own father. She almost wished she hadn't learned the talent of lying quite as well as she had, and that Daniel had seen through her ruse. At least that way, she wouldn't have to be the first one to breach the subject of why she and her new friend were so "different." The few hours during which she did finally manage to doze off were fitful, and she woke at around eight in the morning feeling not nearly as together as usual. Pulling on a pair of black pants and another worn t-shirt, this time a light blue (do I own anything else? She'd mused) and tying her hair back as best she could to avoid looking like a rock video reject, she made her way towards the main hall where people were gathering for breakfast.

Daniel heaved his large frame upwards as she came in. "Cate, did you sleep well?"

"Sure." She lied. Again.

"I need to speak with you for a minute, if that's all right. But feel free to eat first."

Her stomach leapt at the thought of food, but then settled back down noisily with a wave of nausea at Daniel's words. "I'm not quite hungry yet. We can talk now."

She followed him to a side room. Rita was already there. Cate stepped inside, already beginning to feel quite nervous. Daniel closed the door behind her. "Sit down, please." Cate sat on an armchair, now definitely feeling like a cornered animal. Daniel settled into his own chair and folded his hands over his lap. "Cate, we've been receiving threats here in Mesita."

Relief swept over her, hearing that it wasn't about her or David, but it was quickly replaced by more concern. "Threats? From who?"

"We're not sure. It isn't someone in Mesita itself, because the messages have had to be carried to us by locals. They don't seem to know exactly where we are, but I do not like banking on trying to hide this place."

Receiving threats at their west coast base of operations was almost unheard of. Outposts got attacked, true…but Cate couldn't think of anyone stupid enough to try to breach this place. Her fingers instinctively twitched, trying to stroke nonexistent knives. They were hanging in her closet on their belt and she wished she could have the comforting feel of silver against skin. Daniel continued, "We've sent out people to round up more hunters from some more eastern clans. I know you only just got back from California, but we need to send you there again."

Cate's heart sank. _You've got to be kidding_. She had just gotten back to New Mexico. The deserts, the scrubs, the cliffs…some called it desolate, but to her it was peaceful. It was home. It was safe. "Where in California?"

"Los Angeles. Do you remember an elder who spent some time here once, by the name of Theodore?"

"Not really."

"He was killed recently. His sons are now living with their mother in Los Angeles."

"Does she know?"

"No. She divorced him almost a year ago." Daniel sighed deeply. "Theodore chose to not tell them about his real life…a decision that proved ill-fated I fear… too many absent nights with no explanation, strange phone calls, unknown friends…she finally decided to leave. The boys know nothing. It is the older one that I need you to specifically bring back. The younger is not quite old enough…but Theodore was an extremely courageous fighter, and if his son is even half what he was, we will have need of him if these threats prove to be substantial. I wanted to talk to you alone, Cate, because this is an extremely delicate mission. The young man knows absolutely nothing, and it may be difficult to convince him to come. Of course, we will give you everything you need….you are welcome to take along anyone you please as long as they agree. Adrian showed some interest in going."

_I'll bet he did._ "What's this kid's name?"

"Michael. They go by the name Emerson now, after their mother."


	2. LA

**CHAPTER 2**

**For all the movie buffs….see if you can catch the Flatliners reference in this chapter ;) And I hope you notice that David is falling back into character. A little less softhearted, a little more badass…just the way it should be. **

"I can't believe this." Each word fell from his mouth like he was spitting them out.

"It doesn't matter, because you're coming. I'm not leaving you here."

"Afraid I might bite?"

"No, afraid others may bite you. Look, it isn't _my_ fault you know him. Don't get all pissy with me. Adrian might be coming too."

"Great, now I'm really eager to go. Can't wait to get fur all over the seat of my bike."

"We're taking a car. You can bring your bike if you want."

"I sure as hell ain't leaving it here."

The back and forth arguing continued even as both of them packed. David was throwing things violently in the bag with both hands, a burning cigarette in his mouth, completely ignoring any no-smoking rules in the house. He blew the smoke out through his nose in order to keep his hands free, making him look even more like an angry bull. He was not liking being the last person to be included in decisions. He growled to himself under his breath, sometimes curses, mostly English, some occasional Latin, some languages she didn't recognize….but all of it angry. He realized Cate had stopped moving and turned. She was standing behind him, hands on her hips and giving him a look that immediately put him on the defensive. He started in English but then flew into a flurry of curses, only slightly muffled by the cigarette, that Cate only barely recognized as some sort of South American language. "I did _not_ fucking come here to be ordered around, _não irei com aquele lobo maldito e não tomo ordens de você_ …" it went on and on. The idea of David speaking a foreign language, and with perfect accent, seemed funny, but upon hearing it spewing forth in his loudest, roughest voice…God it sounded hellishly awful.

"What is that? How the hell do you know that?" 

He tossed down the shirt he was about to throw in the bag and snarled, finally removing the cigarette from his mouth. "Portuguese. Extended stayover in Brazil due to some extremely powerful cocaine."

"How many do you know?"

"Three or four fluently, but I can curse in just about everything. And if I have to go through the whole damn civilized world in alphabetical order to show you how pissed off I am, I will!"

What had started out as a great idea, coming up to a new state with a beautiful girl to do some large-scale ass-kicking, was now turning into being ordered around like he was a private in the army. And Michael! God, he thought he had been rid of that kid. He had told Cate everything, but she was still emphatic about going. This idiot had gotten his pack killed and impaled David himself on gazelle horns for crying out loud! Gazelle horns! Was there any more ignominious way of dying than that? And Cate was acting like he was being a big baby because some kid kicked sand in his eyes on the playground and stole his truck.

"David, I know you were serious when you said you wanted to do this. Come back with me, stay with me, go kill people with me, all nice and dandy. But can you let your ego go just for one split second? That's what being in this clan is about. It's hierarchy, it's respect. It's like a pack." She leaned against the wall and held her arms out slightly. _Come here, and put that out._ David obeyed, putting the end of the cigarette out on the palm of his hand and stepping forward. Cate knew that David didn't do what she said just because she said it. He was too full of himself for that. He did it because he _chose_ to listen to her. But then again, it was the same with her. He touched his forehead to hers.

His breath was cold and stale against her nose; neither of them had fed the night before "I love you, but I'm not about to play nice with everyone just because you and your grand-daddy say so. Your 'clan' may be like a pack, but remember, I _ran_ the pack."

"I love you too, jerk. But this is a very simple situation. One, I need to go back to California. Two, I don't want to go back to California by myself. Three, I want to go back to California with you. So you're going."

"Oh am I?" he stepped forward, pushing her with his chest so that her back went rigid against the wall.

"Yes, you are."

"And just _how_ are you going to convince me?"

She saw the look in his eyes, but was not about to have herself thrown off track by his insinuations. "I don't need to convince you. You're already convinced you're going to go, because you don't want to stay here by yourself. Now, you're just bitching about it, and trying to get laid in order to get some good out of it."

David withdrew the pressure of his body slightly and curled his thin lower lip in a scowl. "Someone can't take a hint."

They went out hunting that night, the tension between them making them rather unsuccessful. It wasn't the end of the world, as they had gone a few days without feeding before. David had told her that human blood could sustain you for over a week, animal or vampire blood for about four or five days before you started fiending pretty badly for a kill, but being young was causing her to feel pretty grouchy and snappy already. She has told Daniel that she and David would be gone all night and for most of the day in order to round up supplies. If they both spent another day sleeping at the mansion, it would seem too odd. They rented out a room in a ramshackle motel, owned by a very old Native American man with yellowed, drooping eyes, once the morning light began to appear.

"He wouldn't go missing" David has said, eyeing the old man, but Cate's glare stopped his train of thought.

"No people."

"What if I find a murderer or a child molester, then? Then can I eat them? Or is this choke hold on my balls permanent?" He said as she flopped down on the bed. But he was having a hard time concentrating on making his point watching her lie there in nothing but one of his own black shirts and a ridiculously low-cut, scanty black thong. She had walked out of the bathroom and he swore his jaw had just about hit the floor and gone all the way through the earth to China.

_Do you have to wear stuff like that when I'm trying to argue? It's not fair._

_Oh, it's completely fair_

"If you find a scumbag worthy of death, then fine, go ahead." _I don't want to fight tonight, David._

He managed a conciliatory grunt and lay down on the bed on his back alongside her. Maybe going back to California, spotted with more cesspools of lowlifes than a Dalmation has spots, wasn't so bad after all. After a while, he knocked his head lightly against hers to get her attention. "Hey. I'm sorry."

"I heard you." She rolled over and took her usual position beside him, up against his side with one arm across his chest. "I'm just tired. And hungry."

He turned over and wrapped his arms around her with a playful growl. "Meh, stop complaining."

"David?"

"Yes?"

"Since when did my ass become a handrest?"

"Since you decided to wear that."

He kissed her and slowly moved his hands until they rested on her lower back instead. "You were serious about the whole murderer and child molester thing, right?"

"Oh for goodness sakes. Yes, fine."

"Cause technically, Michael's a murderer." His voice had gone soft, prodding her. She immediately recognized he was trying to manipulate her into saying something.

"No, he was defending himself against you and your crazy posse."

"But if he killed me now…you'd call him a murderer, wouldn't you?"

Cate realized David had pushed her into a verbal corner but ignored the question. She knew the answer, but it wasn't the logical one. Of course, if someone killed David she'd have their guts for garters. He knew that, but he'd asked her anyway. "Just please, bury your pride for a few days. Can you do that? Maybe you'll even end up respecting this guy."

She heard him make a derisive sigh in reply, but the noise softened as she kissed his neck. _All right. I'll try._

She moved her lips up to his ear and breathed out slowly.

_Ok, I'll really, really try._

_I thought you didn't like me taking advantage of you?_

_I lied…_

………………………………………………………………………………..………………

When they returned the following evening, David found that someone had washed and tuned up his bike. It was standing outside the mansion, gleaming. "Not bad" he clucked his tongue and ran a gloved finger over the curve of the handlebars. "Going away present?"

"Peace offering." A light voice intoned. Adrian seemed to appear out of nowhere, wiping his hands on a rag. "I have my own bike, so I thought we'd just head off like this, without the old clunker of a car."

Cate gave Adrian a grateful smile, but the look he returned was unreadable.

"So, what's your bike?" David said, trying to consolidate his momentary superiority by making sure he had a better ride. Though he couldn't think of much that could beat his. A 1986 Triumph Bonneville was as good as you could get.

"I'll show you." Adrian gave an odd smile and headed off around the corner of the house. Seeing him from the back, David noticed a thick, distinct line of black fur running down from the tip of Adrian's hairline down his neck . He could follow it down along the young man's spine through the thin undershirt he was wearing. Weird. Like a topline on a horse or something. Somehow he hadn't noticed it at dinner. After a few seconds deep rumble sounded and Adrian came back around. He had obviously anticipated the challenge and parked his bike nearby. David's jaw hit the floor for the second time in twenty-four hours. A Triumph Bonnie. But this was a '78. Meaning it topped out at about fifteen more miles per hour than his.

Cate heard his mind screaming in fury at being upstaged. _Boys_….she thought.

Adrian cut the motor and put the kickstand down. "Couldn't resist. But I think we all need to talk before we go ahead and do this." Sliding lithely off the bike, he stood in front of both of them, crossing his arms but maintaining a neutral face.

_Oh boy, here it comes._

"I know what both of you are. I smelled it on you as soon as you came in. I haven't told anyone, and I'm not going to spread it around. But know that I'm going to be keeping a very, very close eye on both of you." He looked towards David and his voice became dangerously soft. "Especially you. Are we clear?"

David slid his fangs down purposefully and circled one with his tongue. At almost the same moment, the line of hair down Adrian's back stiffened like a threatened dog's.

"No full moon for a while there, Ade."

"I don't need a full moon."

Cate had just about had enough of this ridiculous posturing. "Stop it, RIGHT NOW!!"

Both boys turned as they heard the slithering noise of knives being unsheathed.

Cate's face was like a thundercloud, punctuated with the spark of yellow in her glaring eyes, as she pointed both her knives outwards, one towards each. "I'm NOT going to put up with any of this shit on the ride, or else I'll leave both of you in the middle of Arizona with nothing but a trashed up bike and each other's wonderful company! I didn't ask you both to come so I could get some sort of entertainment watching you puff up in front of each other like a pair of freaking roosters. Grow up. Adrian, quit the passive aggressive shit. Just because you've known me longer doesn't give you the right to decide whether my friends are worth their salt. And David, if you keep trying to start a fight, so help me God I will give you a fight to remember and then never even look at you again. Are we clear?"

The boys didn't answer, staring at her after the outrage. "I said, are we clear?" Cate yelled like a drill sergeant, her brown eyes flashing.

"Crystal."

……………………………………………………..……………………………………………

Once everything had been packed and goodbyes said, David went missing. Cate found him inside, talking on the phone. "What're you doing? We're leaving."

David held up a finger and spoke into the receiver, smiling wickedly at her "Hey, Paul. Want to go to LA?"

Two against one were better odds.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

Paul was eager to go. Despite spending most of his days expanding the adult section in the video store or being with Star, he was a little bored with the sudden transition to normal life. He had managed to get a bike also…a trashed up Suzuki that Cate doubted passed 29 horsepower. But at least he had a ride. David's plan had unfortunately backfired, because Adrian and Paul hit it off immediately. Paul was taking great delight in showing off while Adrian watched, wearing a perpetually amused expression, his lips pursed and trying to hold back a chuckle.

"And then I was like – 'Like hell you are!' and wham, that sucker went down."

"Oh?"

"Hell yeah and then Star was all like 'Omigod thank you Paul, you're so biiig and maaannly."

"I see."

"You forgot to tell him about how two kids flushed you down the bathtub drain" growled David, fiddling with the rear-view mirrors on his bike. It had taken them two nights to get to Los Angeles, and he had put up with them the entire ride only because of Cate. He was also annoyed to see that Paul had indeed begun to grow his hair back, and it was already as messy as before.

They reached the address that Daniel had given them around nine o'clock, and Cate volunteered to go knock on the door. "Ade, come with me. David, Paul, just hang back for a second. If Michael sees you right off, especially you, David, I don't think any amount of storytelling or convincing is going to work."

David shrugged and gestured with his head that he and Paul should park behind the bushes lining the street. He noted with a bit of disgust that the new LA house looked almost exactly like the old one in Santa Carla. Pretty little one-level, picket fence, perfect for 2.5 kids and a collie dog. Nauseating. Adrian and Cate came up to the door and, after a brief moment of hesitation,

Cate went ahead and knocked. The door opened and she readied herself to speak. But the words never made their way out of her mouth. She stood there with her mouth open, staring at the young man in front of her. Dark hair, heavy brow, brown eyes, strong jaw…he was almost a perfect replica of Tobias. She was too shocked to speak. Adrian sensed her shock and smoothly took over, introducing himself. David watched from the bushes as they went inside, only after Michael gestured. "Hi, I'm nice, he's nice, we're both fucking lunatics, can we come in please?" he muttered darkly.

Minutes passed.

Hours passed.

It seemed like Cate and Adrian were inside forever. David had gone through almost nine cigarettes in an attempt to stifle his unease

"Hey, David?" Paul broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…you remember what you said back at the cave?"

David's ears perked up. Hmmm. He did his best to sound completely uninterested.

"About what?"

"About….you know, if I was okay with what I was?"

"Hmmmm…."

"I don't know man. I'm starting to get all spun out and shit. I don't think this whole human thing is worth it."

"Star will be disappointed you feel that way."

Paul scuffed the ground with his shoes. "Yeah…yeah I know. But I just don't feel right."

David had to chose his words carefully. If Paul was considering turning back…that would certainly be a good deal for him. His ego had been bruised lately by not having anyone to really boss around, let alone a pack to run. Not being in control wasn't a feeling he was used to. Paul was sending all the right signals. His body language was nervous, his words ill-chosen and vague….he obviously wanted it, but didn't know how to ask for it. David didn't care about what was technically right or wrong, or what Star and Laddie would think, or if he should dissuade Paul for his own good…all of that was trivial. The taste of power tickled its way through his mouth, and God it felt good. What a stroke of luck! He decided that now all he had to do was give his former packmate the little impetus he needed. After all...it was what Paul really wanted, right? He had already led himself to the water, David just had to get him to drink. "Well, take your time thinking about it. My offer still stands of course."

Finally, the door to the house opened and both of them turned their attention towards it. Adrian came out first, and then Cate. Michael came out alongside her. Cate still looked shaken, but managed to walk steadily towards David, who put an arm subtly but possessively around her. Considering the Michael and Star fiasco, he was marking his territory early.

"Hey Mikey, how's it hanging?"

"Hi Paul."

"Well isn't this a motley crew. Two vampires, a werewolf, a human, and a walking penis." David said mockingly.

"Heeey!" Paul retorted.

Michael didn't respond, but it was obvious he was still suspicious of the entire story. His hackles rose at the sight of his sneering enemy. He had just gotten out of Santa Carla, had just barely begun to forget what had gone on….and it seemed it was all coming to a head again. He stared at David. Vague memories of their fight, ending with his arms against David's shoulders in a death grip, pushing him into the horns and watching the surprise and pain wash over those animalistic golden eyes, seeped into the forefront of his mind. "Let me get my bike." He turned towards the garage.

Paul whispered to Cate. "What did you say to him? How'd you get him to say yes?"

"Daniel gave me some convincing information, mostly about his father. He trusts me because of it. Well, trusts me enough to come along and see for himself."

"What information?"

"I'm not going to tell you. It's his business, not yours. If he feels like it, he can tell you. But right now all you need to know is he's open to the idea." Her voice sounded strained. "I also gave him one of my knives, so he'd at least feel like he had some sort of chance if for some reason we were all lying."

_Are you all right?_ David probed her. She was pressing against him just a tad harder than normal.

_No. But I'll tell you later._

Michael came back, wheeling his bike. Cate took over directing everyone with her last bit of energy. "Let's just stay here tonight, find a motel. Come tomorrow evening we'll start off early, and if we ride all night we should be able to get to Mesita but sunup."

Adrian revved his Triumph and looked pointedly at David, but David was too busy still thinking about Paul's request. Michael walked his bike up beside David and straddled it, staring at the vampire with distrust in his dark eyes. "Do you know why I'm doing this?"

David turned his attention towards him and smirked. "No, Michael. Why are you doing this? Because you suddenly trust me?"

Michael nodded towards Cate, who was sliding onto the back of the Triumph. "Because I trust her. And I can tell she has you by the balls."

David's angry reply was lost in the exhaust of the three bikes in front of him.

After the first night of travel, when they had booked some rooms for the night, Cate immediately threw herself into bed and under the covers. David was in the bathroom taking a shower, so she didn't bother to try to muffle the sounds of crying. The entire scene was being dragged through her head again, bit by agonizing bit. The ending picture stuck like a snapshot of a nightmare. Tristan holding Tobias' head roughly by its dark brown hair. The brooding, soft eyes that had watched over her since she was a child were rolled up in death, the pale white of the eye flat and unseeing. It had been horrifying to look at. She was trying with all her might not to look at Michael. She knew if she didn't get a hold of herself, she would be a completely useless emotional wreck. But every inch of his face reminded her in some way of Tobias, every single inch. Even the way he spoke, the way he moved….calm, logical, quiet….her throat caught and her heart stopped every time he glanced at her, it was like seeing her brother's eyes looking through his. She dimly realized the water had stopped running in the bathroom but didn't care. She was going to cry if she felt like it. She snuffled and gasped into the pillow, and after only a minute or two felt a hand on her shoulder. "Cate? Cate, what's wrong?" It was that familiar, roughened voice that sounded distinctly anxious. She slowly turned around under the sheets to face him, hiccupping. He hadn't even bothered to towel himself off much, water was still dripping from his hair and face and onto the worn cotton pants he had pulled on as quickly as he could as soon as he heard her.

She looked at him for a minute. _Oh, shit._ It was one of those complicated moments. Every single suggestion of toughness had dropped from his face as if the water had washed it clean off. He looked like a sodden, fearful puppy, staring at her with wide blue eyes, and seeing his face only caused Cate to cry harder and grasp her head with her hands, as if she was trying to scrape out all the wreckage of her memories that had just been swept up and destroyed again by a tornado. "Hey, hey! Cate, easy, please!" he threw back the sheets and pulled her firmly to her knees.

"Cate, breathe. Breathe." She tried, but was still choking. He held her firmly against his damp chest and fixed her arms around his waist as if he was arranging a puppet.

"Breathe, damn it Cate!" he slapped her back, hard. She took in a deep breath out of shock, and then several more…and a few more…and gradually the choking ceased.

Her mental shield, which she had been fighting to keep up all night, finally dropped from exhaustion and David immediately saw what was the matter. Cate pulled her arms away from his waist and collapsed back down on the bed, curling up into a fetal position, now breathing but still crying. "Oh Jesus…."

He shook the water from his hair and got into bed next to her and tried to wedge his arms in between her knees and chest. After a brief struggle she finally relaxed enough to let him hold her. _Calm down. Calm down. _His forehead pressed against the nape of her neck. _Calm down, child_. He only rarely called her that except in instances where he needed to get her complete attention. This time it only worked halfway, but she at least managed to stretch out her body a bit more. Slowly, ever so slowly, her crying stopped. Her breaths were ragged and she felt her body ache, muscles going limp. _Calm, child. Calm._ Her back was soaked from being pressed up against his chest, but she didn't notice. _There. Good. Breathe easy._

She woke up several times that day in a cold sweat from fleeting nightmares. Every time she woke, she found him already awake as well, gently stroking her to get her back to sleep. She only found out later by asking that he had stayed awake the entire day.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rita was rummaging around carefully in her stacks of old photographs, letters, and notes. She was a pack rat, for all of her cleanliness, finding it hard to throw away anything with the vaguest hint of a memory. And she had a lot of them. Her family was an old one, going all the way back to thousands B.C., as her grandfathers had always told her. She herself had the look of an eighty year old woman…but witches age well. Truth be told, she was one-hundred and twenty, and still had quite a ways to go. Magic, especially white magic, tended to have a way of extending your life. It didn't matter much to her. She was happy where she was, and knew her family would have approved of her current position. But right now, she was intent on dredging up those old memories. David's face was too familiar. He reminded her of someone, someone she couldn't quite place. If she had so chosen, she could know immediately who he was, but such invasions of another's mind bordered dangerously on black magic, which she had tried mightily to avoid for the past sixty years. Piles of papers built up around her as she opened various boxes and chests, searching for any kind of clue to ease her curiosity. She was getting to the point where the photographs were more of her extended family than of her. The dates ticked down from 1950, to 1920, to 1890, and she saw herself appearing younger and younger, finally in an undated picture balanced upon the knee of her father. She smiled at his face. He had been such a good man. He hadn't known his wife's origins or her unusual powers, but it hadn't ever caused strife in their family. Rita had taken after her mother's side.

She continued looking at the picture fondly. Her father, no more than twenty-eight. Her mother, even younger, with flowing hair that showed no color, but Rita knew it had been red. Her father had called her his fiery one. Her father's elder brothers, fallen during war. She remembered them slightly fondly, but they had been too old to play with her. She was but a child, no more than five. And lastly, her father's younger brother. This was the one she remembered well. He was barely past twenty and had always been kind to heralways giving her small presents from his outdoor excursions – tiny wood frogs with golden eyes, lavender sprigs, once even a baby squirrel that had fallen from its nest. She had nursed the poor little thing for months, and it ended up completely in love with her, never leaving the yard of their house, much to her mother's dismay. She said it kept stealing food. He had been closer to an older brother than an uncle, but had never returned from the war, either alive or in a casket. Rita's eyes suddenly narrowed slightly. She peered at the picture and took a sharp intake of breath. _No_…..The eyes were the same. _What had his name been_? She frantically wracked her brain, trying to find some evidence against what she was fearing was true. Her father's side of the family had been deeply religious. The men all had biblical names. His was Jediah. His brothers were Matthew, Caleb…..and David.

At once, everything clicked into place. Rita was no fool. The paleness of his skin. The flash of color in his eyes when he had looked at Adrian. The incredibly faint smell of blood on his clothes. The charm, the flattery….the fox had gotten in among the chickens.

And then she remembered something else.

Something even more frightening.

How cold Cate had felt when she hugged her.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"No. You're not doing that while I'm around."

"Michael." She still couldn't quite meet his eyes. "You said you trusted me. I don't kill people. And David is under strict orders not to. We need to eat something or else we literally can't ride. At least he needs to. It's been days."

"Orders? They day I believe that David is following orders, especially from his girlfriend, is the day I'll gladly tie myself to the train tracks."

"Look, there are tons of non-innocent pickings around here. Probably even a few vamps."

"You'd take out your own kind?"

"I don't consider them 'my kind'"

"Oh, I forgot. You're the nice vampire. Fine. Leave me with the fuzzball."

Adrian raised his eyes over the edge of his book and his topline fur rose in an annoyed reply. Michael hadn't exactly been getting on his good side either. The boy really had a thing against non-humans. Cate gave up and stomped outside, where David and Paul were waiting. She knew Michael had a hatred of vampires…but not to this extent. It might make things problematic. "Paul? Shouldn't you be inside?"

"Er…I dunno, thought I might tag along?"

Cate immediately looked at David. He shrugged and gave a soft snort of laughter, smiling at her.

"Any reason you just feel like tagging along and watching us kill something?"

"Not really….habit? I could bring condiments? Napkins? Something?" Paul offered.

"Hey, Cate it's all right. Just us boys reminiscing. You know, night on the town, old memories….he'll stay out of the way when it becomes necessary…"

_What are you playing at?_

But he didn't answer her. He turned to Paul and she saw a smile pass between them. "Allright, let's hit the town, man."


	3. How To Take A Fall

Los Angeles at night was definitely something to behold. Cate had thought Santa Carla was weird, but this topped it.

David led the way, glancing left and right lazily, as if he was leisurely strolling along a buffet table. He tried to look indifferent, but she could see his limp had gotten progressively more noticeable. In fact, it had been doing so over the past few days. She was sure it had something to do with feeding. She tried testing out her senses to see if she could feel any other vampires near…but with no success. She still had a long ways to go in terms of that kind of training. Paul brought up the rear, winking and whistling at anything in a skirt.

The length of the skirt was inversely proportionate to the volume of his catcalls.

It had been about half an hour, and Cate was having trouble distracting herself. She was beginning to realize just was bloodlust was. It wasn't a conscious desire, it was almost an instinct, like the instinct to breathe. It wasn't her stomach growling, it was her veins. _Control it. You can control it. You need to learn._

"There." David said quietly, halting. Cate followed his eyes to a small group of youngsters, about seventeen or eighteen years old. They were all dressed in their own unique style, but there was definitely a common thread: black. Black pants, black collars with silver studs, black fishnets, black hair…the only thing that stood out was the paleness of their faces and garish makeup. They were loud and raucous, leaning against the brick wall near one of the many bars, harassing anyone who happened to come too close.

"There what? Those idiots?"

"They're vampires. Young, stupid, badly dressed, but vampires."

"Won't they sense you?"

David snorted. "Are you kidding? They're babies. They couldn't recognize one of the undead if it bit them."

Paul giggled at the joke.

"Ok, so here's the plan…Paul, you're the decoy. Keep the majority of them busy, make them think they have a kill in the making. Act stupid. I'll go for the blond, Cate, you can go for the guy next to her. Chat em up, lead em off, make em think they have us cornered…and then…" David's clicked his teeth together. "Dinner. We come back, rejoin Paul, they realize 'oh, shitballs!' and we walk away with full bellies."

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Paul mock saluted.

Cate rolled her eyes but the anticipation of feeding overpowered her good sense. She was having trouble keeping her fangs in, despite their small size. They were nowhere near as distinct as David's, but seemed to be sharper. She could easily cut her tongue on hers, while he could click and clack his around like he had elephant tusks in his mouth. She wondered if it had something to do with the fact that she was female. Her face also didn't change as radically as David's did, or as any other male vampire's had done that she had seen, for that matter. Did all of that make her more or less deadly? Interesting. But her mind quickly turned back to the matter and hand. "Fine, let's do it."

David caught her and gave her a sharp, hard nip disguised as a kiss on the shoulder. "Hold on a second there."

"Hey!"

"I'm pulling rank. Remember, I'm the sire in this picture. Just watch me work, and you'll have yourself a kill."

She glowered at him, but took her place following behind him along with Paul. Infuriating. But he had right to. They walked up to the pack unhesitatingly.

"Hey there." David smiled disarmingly, looking pointedly at a girl with dreadlocked blond hair and a barely-there leather tank top. She stopped picking her nails and looked up at him out from under fake eyelashes so dark and thick you could swear she had to develop extra eyelid muscles just to hold them up. The group slowly turned, one by one, and looked the newcomers up and down. A few smiles passed between them, and the oldest boy, a remarkably ugly one with a tattoo across his forehead, spoke first. "Hey yourself. New in town?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because usually people don't go around introducing themselves to strangers in LA."

The blond was returning David's looks, playing with one of her locks foxily. She spoke, never moving her eyes. "But we like new people. Fresh blood, know what I mean?"

David pretended to be slightly self-conscious at her bold return stare and fiddled with his gloves. Cate had to admit, he was very good at what he did. The perfect actor, perfect hunter. Laying a trap so crafty that even his own kind couldn't sense it. She was too hungry to feel jealous that the girl was checking David out like a prime cut of steak. She focused on the boy she had been assigned, a tallish, rather awkward one with lank black hair that seemed to constantly find its way from behind his ears back to the front of his face. She lowered her eyes and smiled, mouthing silently, _Hi_. The boy seemed surprised, but returned her greeting with a nod and awkward smile.

"You guys look like you own this strip, huh?" Paul had begun to get the attention of the rest of the group, adding just a touch more "stoned surfer dude" tone into his voice. "Pretty sweet. We're just lookin for some people to hang with, y'know? Maybe catch a few drinks, take a few rides, smoke some high-class stuff….well, whatever ya'all are into, it's all good."

"Oh yeah, we know." The blond stood and walked up to David, still sizing him up from his boots to the top of his bleached hair. She grinned and stuck the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, and began playing with the buttons on his trenchcoat. Again, David acted so captivated by this girl that Cate could swear he almost was. _Ok then, great white hunter. Two can play that game_. She sidled up to the dark-haired boy herself, maintaining only the minimum distance needed to avoid moving too quickly. He seemed to enjoy her presence. Good. She looked at his neck. Long, pale…an easy target. She could practically see the vein jumping out. Her mouth went dry at the sight of it.

The blond had positioned herself practically against David's chest. "My name's Asha."

"David. This is Paul, and that's Catherine."

"David, huh? Kind of a boring name for such an interesting looking guy."

The bait was right there and she'd almost taken it. David sealed the deal by leaning down to her ear and whispering in his roughest, lowest, most seductive voice. "You can call me anything you want."

And she was hooked.

He leaned back up so the rest could hear, and nodded to Asha and the dark-haired boy. "Why don't you guys give us a tour of your area…Paul can treat the rest of you to some drinks while we're gone, sound good?"

The group nodded and exchanged even bigger smiles. Free drinks AND free food.

"Sounds peachy." Asha licked her lips, sliding her hand around David's arm. Cate started walking with them, giving a soft, sexy glance back over her shoulder. Like a puppy being baited with a piece of liver, the boy hurried to catch up. By now her mouth was almost twitching. She strolled around the corner of the bar, into an alleyway in between the buildings. He followed. About twenty seconds later, and only a few startled struggles from her prey, Cate was feeling quite a bit better. It was amazing the difference you felt. So much warmer, so much more…alive. It was like a drug. The body of the boy slipped lifelessly to the concrete and began to smoke slightly. She watched the slow disintegration, and for a moment reminded herself that she hadn't just fed, she had killed a vampire. Like 'normal.' _This is normal. You're doing the right thing, it just happens to be benefiting you more now_. But it still felt extremely strange…and slightly wrong. She peeked back out of the alley so see Paul had managed to move the rest of the group off about twenty yards. They weren't watching. She sniffed the air and reached out with her mind. David's was closed. He refused to let her in, but she could smell him. He hadn't gone far. It was only a few more alleyways down the block before she saw him.

And, just as she suspected, he was taking his time. He hadn't even bitten her yet. He had allowed the little nappy-haired skank to get him up against the back wall and his trenchcoat off, laying his neck open for easier access. Her amateruishly tattooed arms were sliding up his chest and up around his shoulders. Cate, with her senses afire from feeding, almost trembled with jealousy as she saw that her lips were practically locked against his. David sensed her presence and opened one blue eye slightly, and grinned slyly around the girl's mouth. _What? Just playing. _His hands moved to the girl's lower back and pulled, pressing her hips against him, still looking at Cate. _It's all a game to you, isn't it?_ She moved just out of sight behind one of the alleyways dumpsters, but kept an eye on him. In the darkness, she was all but invisible. The girl moved her lips to his collarbone, and upwards towards his neck. David didn't move. Cate saw the glint of her fangs emerge. Still, he did nothing. He didn't even move his arms

Just before Cate was about to storm in and do the business herself, he opened both eyes and gave her a lazy, half-lidded stare. _You move too fast, child. Enjoy it._

_Don't call me that. I don't enjoy it. It's just necessary._

_You enjoy killing. You just haven't learned to enjoy feeding yet._

It was almost instantaneous. David's hand came up and grasped the back of the girls head, wrenching it away from his neck. He waited only half a second, just barely long enough for her to see his fangs, see his eyes, and to snap away the spiked choker from her neck. Then came the terrifying realization that she'd been tricked. The long-lashed amber eyes widened as she opened her mouth the scream, little pearly fangs shining. But the sound never came out as he drove into her neck with such force that the artery almost exploded into his face. It wasn't the deft, clean kill that Cate herself had made. This was violent. The blood flowed down the girls' neck, down her chest…it was flowing so much that he couldn't possibly drink all of it, and Cate realized with a funny feeling in her stomach that he wasn't just killing for food. He was killing for pleasure. He enjoyed the feeling of blood on his face, enjoyed feeling the life pump out of another, even if the other was technically already dead.

Suddenly, the warmth of the kill didn't feel quite so good anymore.

She turned away as David left the girl's neck and the body collapsed to the ground with a dull thud. Paul was standing in the alleyway. "Paul? Did you leave them?"

"Um…they decided to just go off…I don't think the rest of them were hungry…" he spoke to her, but his eyes were directed towards David, whose face had changed back and was sporting a satisfied sneer, the entire side of his body slick with blood. "See something you like?"

Paul laughed nervously.

Cate glanced back and forth between them, her eyes hardening. Now she knew what he had been up to. David was wiping his face marginally clean on the arm of his trenchcoat, like a cat cleaning itself after a kill, when her conscious came slamming down on top of his without warning.

_God damn it! _

"Christ!" David winced and grabbed both sides of his head. "What the hell?"

She didn't dignify him with a verbal response.

_You're trying to turn him!_

Paul was completely confused. But he didn't really try to figure it out. It was probably some mental thing, some sire-child disagreement. But his eyes didn't stray from the now-smoking body.

Cate flew past him in a rage, heading back towards the motel.

"What was that, man?"

"Lover's quarrel." David gingerly removed his hands from his head and popped the cramped bones in his neck.

"Huh….well anyway…I, uh…"

"Yes?" _I've got you…._

Paul's voice was low and shaky, almost frantic. "I need to go back, Dave. It's driving me crazy. I can't take it, it's like I'm not me anymore, it's like I got shoved onto the set of the Brady Bunch or something."

Vampire and human stared at each other for a long time. People walked back and forth across the alleyway entrance like a merry-go-round background. David crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Paul. Now it was serious. Fun and games were over, and the decision was at hand. "You know that I'll do it. I don't play around with this. And you know you can't go back."

"I know."

"And you know that Cate will absolutely, positively, flip out. And I mean flip out with all four sets of claws blazing. There's a chance she might even kill you."

Paul chuckled weakly. "Well…least I woulda tried, right?"

Now even David was beginning to rethink his plan. It had been a game, an exercise in manipulation, to push Paul this far. But now he wasn't quite so sure he wanted to do it. _Oh hell. It's his decision. You're not his babysitter._

David picked up the spiked collar which had once been around Asha's neck, now lying in a pile of ashes. With devastating slowness, he pushed the point of one of the spikes into his forearm, and with barely a twitch of his face, dragged it downwards in jerky movements towards his wrist.

"Your call."

A desperate phone call to the Los Angeles fire department came in about half an hour later. There had been some sort of huge commotion in one of the back alleys, and someone had smelled smoke. The firefighters arrived in record time, but found only a large pile of ashes, jewelry, and the tattered remains of black clothing. Missing posters went up the next day for six teenagers, last seen on the strip near Gillie's bar.

David's odds were getting better.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mesita was quiet when they arrived just before dawn broke. Adrian directed them to park their bikes in a small garage behind the house, and then they they filed in, Cate unlocking the door and leading the way, followed by David , Adrian, and Paul, with Michael bringing up the rear.

They came through the main room and Cate turned to them, speaking quietly. "Michael, you're welcome to a room of your own. We have plenty. The last one on the left down that hallway is open. Paul, the second on the left down that way is also free. I'm in the first on the right down the back hallway if you need me for anything."

She knew what David had done. She could smell Paul. He gave her a small thankful look and slunk away down the hall. Michael wordlessly shouldered his bag and followed.

"Are you going to be all right?" Adrian said quietly to Cate.

"She's fine." David replied, not bothering to restrain himself from showing his teeth. Cate was already pissed at him, no use trying to play nice now.

A deep growl, much deeper than any David could make, reverberated like thunder in Adrian's throat. But the lycanthrope did nothing, only turned and went towards his own room, his topline stiffened. David turned back to Cate and found she wasn't there. She had already taken off to her room and only the sound of the door slamming told him where she went. Now he faced the decision of either trying to make amends, or saying "screw it" and going to sleep. He stood alone in the huge room and exhaled loudly. _Cate?_ He walked slowly down the hall, trying to be quiet. The last thing we wanted was for anyone else to wake up and see him all bloodstained. _Cate. Let me in_. He stood in front of her door and stared as if he could bore through the wood with his eyes. _Child. Let me in._

_DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

He only barely managed to stifle a yelp and grabbed his head again, his knees almost buckling. She sure as hell had gotten good at this mental communication thing. It was scary how strong she was in that respect already.

_Cate, open the door._

No response. She wasn't just being petty. She was seriously angry. Angry enough to not even speak to him, angry enough to probably even kick him the hell out of the house, angry enough to never even look at him again. For the first time he began to definitely doubt he had made the right decision. He couldn't really give a shit that these hunters were coming under attack. That wasn't his business. But it WAS his business if Cate was going to be in trouble. And if she threw him by the roadside, he wouldn't be there in case something happened. _Something like what? Something like what happened before? Do you remember how that felt, when Sorscha made you kill her? When you saw her lying there?_ His resolve faltered as he remembered how hollow her chest had felt, how quiet it had sounded, and how a scream had forced its way up through his mouth, borne of a fury and emotion so powerful he couldn't even begin to describe it, and he had thrown himself headfirst at an enemy twice his strength.

_Cate? Please?_

The door opened a crack, just as far as the chain lock would allow. She had locked it? Locked the door against him? Christ. What did she think he was going to do?

"Give me one minute."

"You have thirty seconds. Go." Her voice was flat and eyes hard.

"I want my pack back. I'm sick of being low man on the totem pole in yours. I signed on to be with _you_, to hunt with _you_, not to play nice with everyone. It's like you've just ignored what we have in order to play messenger for people I don't even know, let alone care about. But for the record, I changed Paul because he asked me to, not just for some power trip."

"But that was part of it."

"Like I said. I had a pack once, and now I don't have anything."

The door closed in his face, and he thought he had just lost the argument. But then the sound of the chain lock sliding came to his ears, and the door opened again, this time wider. But Cate still blocked the entrance. "David, I'm going to ask you one final time. If you care so much about me, can you put aside that monstrous ego of yours before it gets its own zip code?"

That was it. THAT WAS IT. He was sick of being asked that question. His whisper came out in a hoarse, furious rush. "No. I'm not. And you know why? Because you LOVE me for it. You LOVE me because I don't give a rat's mangy ass about anyone but you. You LOVE me because I'm a killer. You love me because I LIKE to kill, and because you do too, except now you're backsliding and won't admit it. You love me because if anyone even LOOKED you in a way you didn't like, I'd string them up by their own guts. And if I turned into some little fang-hunter who was at everyone's beck and call in this house, you WOULDN'T love me anymore. I can guarantee that. I don't presume to be able to tame you, so you sure as hell shouldn't presume to tame me."

He was almost out of breath by the time he finished. Cate was unable to do anything but stare. So it had finally been said. And the worst part was that he was right.

_You love me because I'm a killer. _

"After meeting you, I can't spend my life with anyone else. There'd be no fucking point. You're the be-all and end-all of it, Cate, no matter how much I could hate you, or you could hate me." He spoke quietly, the anger gone from his voice. He had made his point, and had nothing more to say. Now it was up to her. "Can I come in?"

Cate looked hard into his eyes. Those dark blue eyes that had intrigued her so much, full of fierce loyalty and devotion, yet unimaginable cruelty. No one else could understand the smoldering need for violence, for dominance, the simultaneous lust for life and death, except him. It wasn't just love. Love was for puppies and teenagers. This was a bond even deeper than their blood bond. It was a fervent, dark, almost spiritual link. Her head dropped in a nod. His hands came to the sides of her face and he pressed his lips to hers, gently at first, but then harder as he felt her respond. Giving the door a nudge with her foot to close it, Cate felt like a huge mass of thoughts was slowly dissolving into nothing. It didn't matter right now. He was all that mattered right now. It was as if something snapped, and all her eyes could see was a blindingly white, straight line. All that was left was the bond, there was no one and nothing else around them. He took a quick, deep breath as she pulled his shirt up over his head and managed a quick "I love you" before she returned her mouth against his, pushing him towards the bed, his hands already at the buttons of her shirt and hers on his belt buckle. The bond vibration was rising to a fervent pitch, matching the temperature between their two bodies. The room was cold, and for the first time she appreciated how warm a recent kill made you.

_What do you know. Hello there, Kitty Cat._

Cate froze. The voice came out of nowhere as she felt her back come in contact with the yielding softness of the bed, David on top of her, shielding his weight with one arm.

The voice came from inside her.

"David?"

His head was buried in her neck, kissing her jawline, not hearing her.

_Fancy seeing you here._

She screamed and David jerked his head up and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, hissing "Cate! What? What the hell is the matter with you?"

_We'll be seeing you again._

Cate tried desperately to block out the voice. She knew what and who it was now. Her heart suddenly froze solid and she rolled, falling off the bed and to the floor with a crash. David was next to her in a split second, holding her up and checking her for injuries. "Shit! Cate! What is it?"

"David."

Her voice was shaky, and he pressed her against his chest as tightly as he could without hurting her. Her heart was beating so hard he could practically feel it. "I'm right here, what is it?"

"David." She took in a shuddering breath. "Can we hear other…other vampires?"

"Sometimes. But what does that have to –"

"I know who is coming to Mesita."

Her eyes twitched, but she could not bring herself to blink. If she closed her eyes, she knew she would see it all over again. David tried to turn her towards him and she jerked away reflexively. "Who?" He tried to pull her to his chest again and she wrenched herself away, this time violently, bringing her knees up to her head. She couldn't bring herself to speak. Her jaw felt like it had suddenly become rubber. The fear, the rage, it was too much to articulate. She could only think.

_They're coming_

_Who?_

_The ones that took me. When I was young._

Davi's recalled what Tobias had told him. A New Mexico pack, an attack on the clan, taking Cate and using her… 'for fun' he had said.

_The ones that kept you and raped you._

_Yes. Not just that. But yes._

He moved next to her and pressed his forehead against hers in their old sign of affection._ Cate. If they're coming….I'm going to kill them for you. I swear to God I will._

Her fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around her knees._ Not if I kill them first._

There was a rapid, tapping knock on the door and they both nearly jumped out of their skins. A whispered voice hissed through the thin wood. "Hey! Cate! Pssst! Wake up!"

David got up and went to the door, slowly. His muscles tensed involuntarily, fighting blood roused. "Who is it?"

"David?"

"Paul?"

He opened it to find Paul standing outside, wearing only boxers, looking extremely shaken. "What are you doing here?" they asked each other in unison. But Paul answered first, stuttering. "I-I need to talk to Cate. You said that someone w-was coming, here, right? I think...I think I know who."

David looked back and forth between Cate and Paul "Seems like everyone here is getting the memo but me. Who?"

"I just heard a voice. In my head…I knew it." Paul's face was twisted in pain. As he looked at Cate.

"I heard it too."

"Just now?"

"Just now. Tell me his name." Her voice pronounced each word as if she was reading a death sentence.

" Lath. He isn't dead. It's Lath. And he doesn't just have a pack with him. He has a hell of a lot more than that."


	4. Bled White

**Wow..am I that bad that no one leaves reviews except FindersKeepers my stalker? Heh…well….it only takes a sec, just leave me a quick note, even if its anonymous – I really really thrive on you guys are your reviews, and definitely listen to any suggestions you have…If you're just all confuzzled, search for the first part of the story The Lives Men Lead and things will become clear.**

**So, just take 5 seconds out of your day (for me! I love you!) and let me know if I'm boring ya silly, or if you like it.**

**More "old friends" will be showin up soon….just keep reading. It'll all make sense eventually ;)**

Two eyes stared out over Mesita. One brown, one a pale yellow-green. They calmly watched as the last traces of the sun slipped over the horizon. Behind them were the sounds of digging, scratching, and the snapping of teeth.

Hush, my little ones. Time enough for that.

He had heard of Tristan's miserable failure. It didn't surprise him, and he felt no remorse. The old fool. He knew Tristan had been priming him to take over the pack….such trust was badly misplaced in a protégé that was not your own child. Oh, he called him his child, his favourite, his pet…but they both knew that he belonged to no one. No one knew where he had come from, and no one asked. Tristan took him in and acted like he was going to be a savior, a deus ex machina for his out-of-control pack. But he had been planning, too. The hunters and their new friends had actually done him a favor. He had planned to take Tristan out himself, but now was saved the trouble. Not that the trouble was much; the old man was too far gone to make any sort of decent threat. He let himself get caught up in the intellectual aspects of everything, when everyone knew, it was bloodlust that counted.

The green and brown eyes blinked as one as he recalled his first attempt years ago at revenging his almost mortal injury at the hands of the hunters. Sloppy. Very sloppy. He was almost ashamed to admit it had been his idea. The work of a novice. They had only captured one, and ended up losing her only weeks later. But unlike Tristan, who doggedly stuck to ritual, he had changed his plans. Things were much different now, much different.

The scratching noise became louder and more insistent. They could smell his anticipation.

But now wasn't the time for the final blow. No, right now, it was just going to be a warning. Just enough to get their heartbeats going and palms sweating. Psychological warfare beforehand made the actual killing easier. The eyes blinked again slowly, and the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile.

He was coming.

And he was no ancient. He adapted. He held nothing sacred. He was of new blood, and was out to spill more.

Lath was coming.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The late in the next afternoon, Michael returned to his room after speaking at length with Daniel. He sat on the bed, shaking his mass of dark hair away from his eyes, and looked down at his hands. Slowly, he opened his fingers, revealing the clenched photograph. It was old and torn at the corner, but definitely the same one he had seen Lucy keep by her nightstand. Sam, only a baby, Michael, Lucy, and his father. It had been on the beach, and all of them were squinting at the camera in the bright light. _This is crazy._ He made up some excuse to Lucy and Sam about going on vacation in New Mexico with some old friends from Santa Carla. Only Sam had been suspicious, but Michael had silenced him with a classic older-brother glare. Born to kill vampires? Please. It sounded like something out of one of Sam's comic books. But the nagging thought at the back of his mind remained. A month ago, he didn't believe in vampires either. _There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy._

He trusted the girl, although he wasn't sure why. He generally believed his first impressions about people. He had tagged David as a troublemaker from the start, he just hadn't known how far he would go. However, even though David was self-serving and half-crazy, he wasn't about to sneak into Michael's room at night and kill him. Paul, of course, was Paul, and Michael didn't have many fears regarding him. The other one, Adrian, he wasn't sure what to make of yet. It wasn't common for him to not be able to read others, and it unnerved him slightly.

_Why am I even here? Going on some crusade against the undead?_

_You know why. Because of Dad. Because you knew he had been hiding something. It hadn't been work, it hadn't been an affair, it had been something much more sinister. Keep on with this, and just see where it goes._

Rita had been checking in on Michael all day, making sure the new addition was settling in. After he had politely, but firmly, shooed her away for the fourth time, she decided that it was time to stop stalling. Although who she should go to first, she didn't know. Daniel? Cate? David himself? Daniel would almost certainly throw both of them out, if not kill them. He loved Cate dearly, but considered the only good vampire a dead vampire. She would be dead to him. Rita was not quite so hard-hearted. She could tell in the girl's eyes and voice that she was still inside that body. It was still Cate. She found that she had made her way to the back of the house, where it joined the garage. Hearing the clanking of metal, she slowly opened the door. David was inside, on his back, tinkering with the underside of his bike's engine. Neither he, Cate, or Paul had told anyone of the events of last night yet, and he was desperately trying to find ways to stop thinking about it. The task at hand right now was to find a way to tweak his engine to be able to at least match, if not outrun, Adrian's.

He glanced over as he saw her come in and scooted over so he could sit up without hitting his head. "Need anything?"

"Actually, yes…..I remember you saying you grew up in Georgia."

David stood and wiped his hands on his pants, not quite sure where she was going with this line of questioning. "Atlanta, yeah."

"I spent a good deal of my childhood there myself."

"That so?"

She took a step forward , her hand in the pocket of her sweater, grasping the photograph.

"Cate told you who I am, didn't she?"

"She said you did magic."

"You can say the word witch." Rita's nerve redoubled as she became even more sure, seeing his familiar smile on his face. "Witches live longer than most. And we have long memories. But there's been something I have been wondering about of late, something about Georgia. I was wondering if you could help."

David raised an eyebrow. He didn't know what she was leading up to, but her tone was beginning to make him ill at ease.

She took out the photograph and handed it to him. "My family also lived in Atlanta…I was curious to see if you had known any of them."

David took the photograph, expecting to see some boring, flashy color picture with gaping smiles, annoying looking children….but his heart leapt into his throat and he literally almost started choking right then and there.

"_Wow…is that what they use to take pictures?" Rita's eyes were wide as she stared at the large, odd-looking contraption. Jediah straightened the collar of her dress. "It is indeed. Impressed?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Yes, Rita. Not yeah."_

"_Yes, Daddy."_

"_Matthew, is my hair all right?"_

"_Beautiful, darlin, it's fine."_

"_Looks like a wet raccoon's ass." _

_Rita giggled as she heard a familiar sandpaper voice in her ear, and she whispered back in sing-song. "Uncle David used a bad wo-o-ord."_

_He mussed her curly hair playfully. "What, you want yours to look like it too?"_

_Rita squealed and tried to hit his hand away with her small fists._

"_David? Will you please stop acting like you're her age for one minute?" Caleb raised an eyebrow at his younger brother._

_David gave straightened back up and played at being overly stern and serious. Rita giggled despite herself._

"Shit…" it came out almost more as a breath than a spoken word

"I see you still have your penchant for foul language. Who turned you?"

His mouth stayed slightly open, as if he was debating an answer, but she already knew it. "It was her, wasn't it? My mother was right. She knew what she was."

"My business was none of your mother's affair. She wasn't even blood."

"It was our family's affair, that's why you were banned from seeing her, not that you cared a whit anyway. Sorscha wasn't just a she-wolf from the wrong side of town. She was much worse. She knew it, you knew it, even I knew it."

"If you say one more word against her –"

"You'll what? If I so chose I could do anything from stripping away that dear immortality of yours, to turning you into nothing but a pile of ashes right this second."

David scoffed and threw the picture to the ground, pointedly stepping on it. "You wouldn't dare. You're too soft."

"Try me. My mother didn't just teach me healing and white magic." Rita's eyes were as hard as nails. "Healing, wounding, giving life, taking away life…it's all intertwined, David. And for you, I wouldn't hesitate to go back to a place I swore I would never go in order to protect my family."

"I'm not family anymore, then?" 

"You're a creature. And you've turned Cate, one of my own family, now. You're like a virus."

He growled to himself. Truth be told, now that he remembered, he had always had a soft spot for Rita. He hated children in general, they were loud, obnoxious, and got on the last thread of his last nerve. But she had been different than most. She took after her mother. But he could tell that no amount of cajoling or warm memories could dissuade her from being convinced that he was a danger. "I turned Cate to save her life. Ask her yourself, she'll tell you."

"I don't need to ask her. The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because, for some reason, she's fond of you, and for the most part I trust her judgement. But I swear on my mother's grave and on every power of the spirits within me, if you betray us, not even she will be able to stop me from doing what needs to be done."

"Tough words, baby bird." He purposefully used the pet name he used to call her.

"_All right, smile, baby bird."_

"_Aren't you supposed to be still and silent in a picture?"_

"_I have to be. But you're too young to be so serious yet. Smile."_

If Rita had been of a softer nature, such a memory would have weakened her resolve. But the weight many years had strengthened her. It _did_ sadden her to see him. This thing in front of her had once been closer to her than a brother. She saw only fleeting traces of the young man she knew as David in it. There was a tiny lining of softness behind the layers of conceit in its eyes, and momentary lapses of innocence in the wily smirks…but that was it. Cate was still Cate…but here, she wasn't so sure. "Now isn't the time to bring this to a head. We may have a greater threat over our heads, and I refuse to have your weakness bring about the downfall of my clan, and the downfall of a girl I consider my daughter."

David's anger was aroused. How dare she try and suggest that she was more important to Cate than he was? His voice echoed around the garage. "My weakness? You call this a weakness? I'm more powerful than I could ever be. I'm damn near fucking invincible. My weakness, as you call it, saved Cate's _life_. Would you rather have her rotting back in Santa Carla?"

"I don't deal in imaginary situations. But hear me well. I'm not going to put either one of you on the line. But as soon as the current situation, the current threat, is taken care of, I want you out of here. And I never want to see you anywhere near Cate again. Do you understand me?"

"Oh, I understand. But we both know you won't back up your words. Do you really think Cate would choose you and your ragtag clan over _me_? Shake the senility out of your ears."

"It wouldn't be her choice. It would be mine." Rita turned and exited swiftly.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Over the next few days, Michael spent a great deal of his time with Daniel. They would go into the back room off from the main hall and talk for what seemed like hours on end. What they discussed, no one knew. One evening, a short letter was delivered to Daniel by a young Native American man. Daniel spoke with him in a language Michael didn't recognize, but he could tell that the old man was ill at ease. With a final word and a heavy but gentle hand place on the messenger's shoulder, Daniel turned to come back inside. He sighed, a creaking sound, and motioned to Michael. "Son. If you would be so kind as to gather your friends, and I shall bring together the rest. We have much to plan."

It took about half an hour of scouting around the house to find everyone, being that he didn't quite know the ins and outs of the house's rambling hallways, and by the time Michael got back Daniel had already gathered the main force of the clan. Paul was grumbling something about being interrupted in the middle of his Twisted Sister album, but other than that, the rest were silent. Cate had quite a good idea what this meeting was about. She broke off from the group and walked up to Daniel, who seemed to have aged even more in the short space of time. "Daniel, I'm guessing we received some word."

"We did. But I need to speak to everyone."

"Just tell me if it's good or bad."

"That, child, depends on how we use it." Daniel raised his voice and the murmur of the small crowd died down. "You all know we have been receiving various threats over the past month. Today a letter was delivered to me that openly states a position of war."

There was a grumbling throughout the room, but Daniel held up a hand.

"It also states that these people, or creatures, or whatever they may be, are willing to negotiate. Tonight they will come to the hillside on the west field surrounding the house, and they will bring no weapons. They allow us to bring whatever we like, although I believe we should go only lightly armed as a gesture of good faith."

"Good faith gets people killed."

Daniel turned towards the offending voice. David was staring at him coolly, arms crossed. "Good faith can also prevent killing. It is my decision that we will go out to meet them."

"Your decision? What about what we think? Shouldn't the people who are going to be fighting make the decisions?"

"David, what the hell are you doing?" Cate hissed.

He ignored her and continued. "Well?"

"And what would you do?" Daniel's voice was almost condescending, fatherly, like he was talking to a reluctant child.

"Come out with every piece of weaponry we have, and when they arrive…kill them. One, two, three, problem solved."

"You would break the rules of a peaceable negotiation? You have no concept of honor, of trust?"

"Not when it comes to my life."

"Cate. Remove your friend. I believe he needs some time to think things through fully before conversing with the rest of us." Daniel's voice lowered. Cate immediately grasped David by the arm and pulled him away, out of the room, down the hallway, and down to her own room. She pushed him inside and slammed the door. "What do you think you're doing? Playing mutineer? "

David had allowed Cate to 'remove' him, but he stood his ground now. "He's going to get us killed, Cate, anyone can see that."

"I don't like it any more than you do.But just wait. We're all going to be armed. Even if they're lying, and they are too, and they're going to break the peace…we'll still be ready. It doesn't really matter anyway."

"Eh. But if we did it my way….it would be so much more FUN…"he shrugged and shot her a devilish smile.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The field was as bright as daylight. Floodlights from the house's top floors cast everyone in a ghostly pale, occasionally flickering light. It was a shining spot in the middle of a yawning hole of darkness. The clan's warriors, numbering about ten including Cate, David, and Paul, stood on one side, headed by Daniel. Lath stood at the other end, a dozen or so followers on each side. They were a motley crew, various ages and races…Paul didn't recognize any of them. None of Tristan's old pack was there. In a way, it made it even more unnerving. Paul tried to keep himself from staring, making bad attempts at playing with his hair and staring at various object on the ground.

_I'm not looking, I'm not looking_

_Yes, you are._

_Shit!_

Lath looked exactly the same as the night he had gone out with Paul and the others, from the long, aquiline nose and lank brown hair to the oxblood Doc Martins on his feet. He was almost having trouble believing this really was Lath. But then again, he had been the one who had run. The others had stayed and tried to fight the hunters off, and he had run. So…he hadn't actually seen him die… there was a little twinge of guilt in his stomach, but he pushed it down. They had all blamed him because they were just looking for some sort of scapegoat. And old Pauly, since he was the omega vamp, the dumbass, the village idiot, got the blood scraped off their hands and on to his. The only consolation, and it was a weak consolation at that, was that he knew Lath wasn't out for him. He was out for Cate and her clan. Eh….it probably wasn't the most noble thing to think…but he was certainly glad it wasn't _all_ his business.

Another quite un-noble thought that he couldn't shake was how devastatingly hot Cate looked in full fight uniform – all black, all tight, very, very awesome. David kept giving him angry glances but….damn, how was a guy supposed to help himself? Kickass she-vampire in tight black leather holding a big weapon? It was like...well, he wasn't sure what it was like, but it was definitely good. Yow.

Lath raised his voice so they could hear him, amplifying his infuriating shrill tone as much as he could. "Well, well….look at you. Grown up a bit, haven't you?"

"Enough." Cate's face was like iron. She stared at each and every one of them above the gleaming tip of the arrow. There were over two dozen of them, but she recognized every sneering face. Every single one. The faces that had haunted her for almost a full month, and for years afterwards in even her deepest sleep. For a minute she was back underground, hearing water drip, hearing animal noises, rats scurrying, the groaning of rotting wood. Whenever she took in a breath, it was like breathing in fetid swamp water. The dampness was almost overpowering. Her wrists stung slightly as she remembered the ropes the held her arms above her head for almost three weeks in the same position, straining her muscles until she screamed in pain if someone tried to put them down at her sides. Every single face that stared at her, every set of fangs grinning, every disgusting, sweaty, dead body against hers. Her fingers quivered like they had a life of their own, vibrating softly against the trigger. David came over to her, sensing her rising fury. At first his plan was to gently, ever so gently try to get her to let looser the arrow that was quivering at the end of the crossbow, and start the fight that he wanted so desperately. He was having enough trouble controlling himself as he saw brief reflections of her memories in his own thoughts.

The idea of those nauseating, brainless excuses for vampires even touching Cate, who was _his_, God damn it, his property -

_Your "property"?_ Cate's subconscious screeched at him.

_God damn right my property_

- made his blood smoke and roil. This negotiation bullshit wasn't going to do a damn thing. But he knew what would. Bodies hitting the ground. But his plan was interrupted as he heard the shrill voice directed towards him.

"Oh and look…you have a new friend! Judging from his expression…more than that?" Lath said, feigning surprise. "How intriguing. How is it, nailing the leftovers?"

David lunged and it took three men to hold him back as he struggled and snarled to get at Lath. The young vampire laughed uproariously, pleased to have gotten a reaction. "Oh, don't act so offended. She's just another piece of meat. Albeit a bit spoiled."

David was practically seeing red and the only thing that kept him within the grasp of his holders was Cate's mental scream._ Stop! He's baiting you! Stop it! STOP-IT-GODDAMMIT-DAVID-RIGHT-NOW-OR-I-WILL-PUT-THIS-ARROW-IN-YOUR-OVERBLOWN-HEAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

Her voice finally broke through and he started as if something had slapped him across the face. Gradually, he stopped struggling, but his face was still a mask of utter fury. Cate hadn't moved her eyes from her targets, and her voice rang out across the field. "I will personally put an arrow through each and every throat and heart standing up there unless you leave, now. "

_I'm not afraid of you._

_Yes, you are, Kitty Cat._

_Come down as see just how afraid I am._ Her lips curved in a wicked, half-crazed smile. She wasn't remembering the past anymore. She wasn't crying on the floor like she had been in her bedroom the night before. She was ready to kill. And to enjoy it. Every muscle, every cell, every nerve in her body was primed to slash and burn everything in her path, screaming for blood, screaming for death.

But then Lath motioned languidly behind him and snapped his fingers. It was like someone had suddenly snapped on a radio to full blast. Even Paul, with his weathered concert-going ears, winced. An unearthly caucophony broke forth, howls and shrieks that were anything but human. The hillside was suddenly swarming…with dogs. Huge dogs. All colors and patterns, all of them yowling and pacing, frothing at the mouth, eager to receive the signal to hunt. It was a sea of black, gray, white, brindle, gold, like a swirling painting dotted with feral amber spots, watching, waiting. But their movements were too swift for hounds. They were too large, the muscles under their fur rippling far too obviously. Adrian's hackles rose and the deep-throated growl that David had heard him make earlier came from his throat again. "Hellhounds."

Paul's hand trembled at the crossbow's trigger. Cate steadied him with a glance as Lath called out across the field. "Send over two of your own to negotiate, and I will come down unarmed."

The large man began to walk across the field, towards Lath, with Cate following about ten yards behind after laying her knives on the ground in plain view. Lath whistled and five white hounds wove their way through the teeming pack and came to his side. They snarled and rubbed against him, drooling on his feet, as if begging permission to go. He made no motion to send them, but instead began to take a few steps forward. The dogs remained where they were, making strange whimpering noises as Lath walked away.

David watched the dogs warily.

_Cate, I don't like this. Come back. Come back now._

One of the hounds lunged but stopped itself again almost immediately, its clawed front feet digging into the dirt to stop its forward progress as if it had his a brick wall. It turned and joined the others again, howling in dismay as if its owner had kicked it. Daniel and Cate were halfway across when Lath snapped his fingers again.

And that was the signal.

The first hound was on Daniel immediately, and the sickening crunch of bone echoed in the evening air. Daniel was dead before he hit the ground. Unarmed, Cate was rooted to the ground as the hounds focused on her.

Adrian turned so fast none of them even saw it. All they saw was a huge rush of black fur and teeth, three times the size of the hounds. David had never seen a lycanthrope fully changed. It wasn't some sort of awkward man-beast. Adrian was all wolf. At least five feet at the shoulder, thick black fur and a long muzzle baring a stunning array of teeth. He collided with the hounds and two were immediately laid low by a huge sweep of a front paw and flash of teeth. One leapt on his back, clamping onto the thick skin around the back of his neck, while the other two snapped at his legs, trying to get at his belly. The wolf flipped himself and rolled over on the ground like a dog drying itself off, and the hound on his back yelped as its bones were crushed by the tremendous force of his weight. But in that moment, the two others made their move, one to the abdomen and one to the neck. The wolf snarled, whirling in circles, trying to dislodge them. But they held on as if their jaws were locked, using their front paws, inflicting wound after devastating wound. Not a single person on the clan's side could get a good shot at anything. The wolf was moving too fast. The black fur began to mat together with blood and it's whirling movements became more erratic. With a colossal stretch of his hind leg, he managed to kick the dog hanging on to his abdomen off. But the hound did not let go of its prey that easily. As its body flew a good six feet from the scene, so did a large chunk of flesh, still clenched between its teeth. The enormous black beast that had once been Adrian screamed and crashed to the ground.

Lath had watched the entire encounter with a sneer. He whistled. The remaining hound released its hold on the wolf's huge neck and returned to its master's side, bloody froth dripping from its mouth. Cate threw her crossbow to the ground and ran forward. The wolf was shuddering, its tongue lolling on the ground, flecked with blood. The black fur began shortening, inch by inch. The hind legs stretched and muzzle retracted. Soon the only thing lying on the ground where the wolf had been was Adrian, with a long, ripping wound to his stomach. Cate pressed her hands to it, realizing with horror that his hands, combined with hers, were practically the only things holding his organs inside his body. "David!" she screamed.

David was already there and was wrapping his trenchcoat as tightly as he could around Adrian's midsection. "Cate, pull on this. Pull, now!"

Adrian's eyes were glassy but he was still conscious. The trenchcoat had compressed the wound enough to slow the bleeding, but none of them knew if it had been in time. After a final wrapping of the coat, Cate leapt to her feet, screaming obscenities, David right on her heels, both of them ready to wreak vengeance.

But Lath, his pack, and his hounds were gone. The hillside was empty.


	5. The Hero Killed The Clown

**In case you haven't noticed yet, my chapter names are Elliott Smith lyrics and song titles… ;)**

"We need more help."

Rita said nothing, her wrinkled eyes red-rimmed and tired. She had spent the last three hours desperately trying to keep life in Adrian's body. Every time she willed the skin together, it willed itself apart again, seeping and inflamed. Wounds inflicted by a hellhound were no ordinary wounds. They had a life of their own, and fought her magic tooth and nail, as if they were intent on destroying the body upon which they had been inflicted. Hellhounds…who would have ever thought to use them? They were almost uncontrollable, and that many of them…it was like trying to keep a pit of snakes untangled. God knows where he had gotten them all.

Not hearing a response, David raised his voice a notch. "You said that if anything threatened your clan, you wouldn't hesitate to go back to using the old ways."

"I would. But it could end up killing not only me, but everyone. The black magic is like a wild thing. You don't control it, it only allows itself to be controlled for a while. It flatters you and entices you until you end up completely in its grasp. "

"But if you tapped into it, you could just kill them."

Rita exhaled loudly, as if she were dealing with a child. "Taking life or giving life back is almost impossible. It would take me weeks to prepare the rituals and to harness the energy. We have no time for that."

David sat back in the chair and raised his eyes to the ceiling. An idea was forming little by little in his head. Ever since Rita had mentioned life and death. Coming together like little beads of mercury, congealing to form one coherent thought. At first, it seemed like almost a joke. But the more he thought about it…the more plausible it became.

"Rita."

"Yes….?"

"Bringing something from the dead back to the living. So, you're saying it's extremely hard, right?"

"Almost impossible."

"Time consuming?"

"Yes, yes, weeks of preparation at least, like I said."

"Interesting."

"David, don't think I don't hear that tone. What are you getting at?"

A broad smile formed on David's face as he dropped his eyes to the ground, laughing softly to himself. "What about bringing something back halfway?"

"Halfway? What do you mean halfway?"

"I mean, not from dead to living, just from dead…to undead." He looked back up at her, dark blue eyes sparkling with an almost child-like mischievousness. "I have a few old friends we could call on, if you know what I mean…."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….

"That's it. I'm done with this."

Michael was already wheeling his bike out of the garage.

"Michael, you can't just walk out now." Cate strode after him. After they had retrieved Daniel's body for a quick but proper burial, Michael had immediately gone to his room, packed his things, and headed out the door. He hadn't said a word to anyone, and would have left completely unnoticed if he had not bumped into her on the way.

"Oh can't I?" he threw down his bag and glared at her furiously. "This is your war. I've seen enough already.

"But your father –"

"I am NOT my father. I don't want any of this. I came with you to see what this was all about. Now I have. If you want to spend your life bathing in other people's blood, that's fine, but I like to sleep with a clean conscience." He picked up the bag and deftly laced it to the back of his bike. He wasn't kidding around, not this time. There was a time and a place to play rebel, but it wasn't now. He wasn't about the leave Lucy and Sam alone for good, not this time.

"Michael, we need every person we can get right now. If you walk away right now, you're a coward."

"If I walk away right now, I'm not a coward. I'm the smart one. I'm the one who doesn't want to spend the rest of his life killing things."

His bike growled to life and Cate threw up her hands. Suddenly, he didn't look like Tobias anymore. The liquid brown eyes that had caused her to swallow her tongue when they had first met were now trained on her with disgust. Their depth was gone, they seemed like shallow soil. He wasn't anything close to Tobias. It was as if an imposter had come back, some kind of doppelganger to spit on his grave by acting the part of the abandoner. She actually began to feel cheated, wronged. This was supposed to be their inspiration, the son of a highly regarded warrior, who took it upon himself to leave his family and come fight for the clan. This was supposed to be her brother, or at least a reflection of him, so she would not feel quite so devastatingly alone and devoid of family. But now? Michael was leaving. She was growing angrier and more indignant by the minute. They had brought him all the way from Santa Carla, and at the first sign of death, he decided to pack up and leave?

"Bravo." She heard David walk up behind her, his gloved hands clapping slowly and deliberately. "Bravo. Bra-ha-vo. Some hunter, there. Michael, I'm impressed by your complete lack of balls once again."

"Don't even get me started on you." Michael cut the engine, apparently not ready to leave yet not that he had another target for his anger. "You're a crazy, power-hungry son of a bitch. I knew that from day one, but y'know I though hey, he's got a cool bike, he's probably just a little weird, let's see where this goes. Whoops, too bad he's one of the freaking UNDEAD. I'm sick of seeing where things go, because as of right now, my track record has been pretty damn crappy."

"Are you sure it's not because you're _supposed_ to be power-hungry son of a bitch along with us?" David sneered teasingly. "You wanted to be one of us, admit it. They say you always hate things in other people that you hate about yourself. How about it Michael?"

Michael gritted his teeth. The way David said his name drove him crazy. It always had. He sounded like he was talking to a dog, or a child. _Ohhh Miiii-chaaaaael! _"Maybe at one time I did, but now I wouldn't lower myself to scraping you off the bottom of my shoe. And I never wanted to be part of some crazy vampire hunting club. I have a mother and a brother. You guys, on the other hand, have absolutely nothing. Do you understand that? Your lives are worthless. Worthless. So go ahead and throw them away! No one will miss you, no one will care. I, on the other hand, have responsibilities, and right now I'm going back to them no matter how many names you decide to call me behind my back. Enjoy speaking while you can, by the way, I hear it's pretty hard from six feet under."

Michael angrily keyed the motor back up again, and this time he didn't cut it again. The bike was out of the garage with Michael on it in a few seconds, leaving only a trail of dust .

"I guess you had him picked, didn't you." Cate murmured.

"Wanna take a shot at him? I can get your bow."

"Eh. I almost want to. How is Ade?" Cate changed the subject with a sigh, running a frustrated hand through her hair. It felt greasy and tangled. Right now, all she wanted to do was take a shower and forget the horrific scene she had just witnessed.

"Bad. Very bad. Rita stitched him up but he could go either way."

"You know he attacked them to save me."

David shrugged and replied reluctantly. "Guess I can't be quite so much of an ass to him, now can I?"

"If you ever get to talk to him again, that is. Adrian was always….odd…but he has a strict sense of loyalty."

"He acts like he knows you better than me."

"He's jealous. He won't admit it."

"Jealous, huh?"

"We used to have a thing." Cate's voice held a finality as if she didn't want to discuss it any more.

"A thing?" David bristled. "What kind of thing? I hope you're talking about teaching him to play fetch or something. And that he didn't move that furry ass from the foot of the bed to any other place on it"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, and my history prior to you is none of your business."

"At least he didn't give you fleas…guess that pack really did warp your sense of attraction if that's the kind of guy you used to go for." David grunted and began to turn away from her. It was a low blow, he knew, and he expected retribution….but he was still unprepared for how swiftly it came. The palm of her hand moved so quickly he couldn't avoid it, and it slammed into his check with a resounding slap. Before he could react to that, she cannoned into his chest with her entire body, knocking him onto the floor. The wind was crushed from his lungs as she dug her knees into his chest and he felt the stinging tingle of silver at his throat. Her face was inches from his, and it was anything but friendly.

"Times like these…I have trouble remembering why I didn't kill you a month ago. Tell me again? Because you 'love' me? Because you think we're the same person? Well, let me tell you something, David. When it comes right down to it, you don't know a single fucking thing about me, much less about that part of my life, and if you ever, EVER bring it up in that tone again, I'll collect your goddamn head AND your balls, and leave you to rot in the sun. I don't need this."

They locked eyes with each other like two wild animals, breathing heavily, each one refusing to break the stare. David wasn't about to let her win. "Yeah, you do need this. No one's ever challenged you before, no one's ever gotten your ass-kicking little panties in a bunch before now, and guess what? That's why I'm here. I OWN Santa Carla. I OWN my pack. I practically OWN California, for that matter. And I sure as hell ain't gonna forget that, because you can't beat me. Hell, you can't even come close."

"You're wrong."

"Oh?"

"I can beat you any time."

"And how's that?"

"Leaving. If I leave, you're no longer vulnerable. I make you vulnerable, you know that. And it's that feeling, that feeling of being so ridiculously insecure about showing any weakness at all, THAT is what keeps you working, keeps you going, keeps you fighting, because you go through life _scared_. If you don't have someone around to scare you into realizing that you're not the end-all and be-all of the universe, and that God forbid, you actually care about someone more than your own disgustingly huge ego, you have nothing to live for."

"Bullshit."

"You love me and you know it. That's why you're such a bastard to me. You 'own' Santa Carla, fine, but I own you."

He bit her. Not a nip. This was a bite, a snapping, hard bite, right to the side of her face. Her head suddenly exploded with the reverberations of pain coursing through her nerves. With a scream she released her hold on him and rolled off. The bite was in a painful spot, but hadn't gone too deep. It was already beginning to heal, but…..had he just bitten her? _Bitten_ her? And suddenly….David started to laugh. It started as just a little snort, but as he kept watching her, it grew and grew in volume until he was holding his sides and desperately trying to catch his breath. Cate stared at him like he had suddenly gone mad. "You bit me."

"Oh my…..God" David gasped, trying to speak in between bursts of laughter.

"You BIT me. What the hell is so funny?"

"I…..I hope…….you….you didn't….give me rabies!"

He fell back over onto his back, howling with laughter.

Cate stared.

And stared.

And a tiny smile began to creep across her lips.

Seeing him roll around on the floor, yelping like a crazed hyena….it was too much. She giggled, tried to cough and redeem herself, but finally surrendered to the laughter that was forcing its way out of her mouth. They both sat in the garage, Cate holding her knees to her chest to try to keep herself from choking in between bursts, and David still on his back, wheezing and laughing harder than ever.

"Ummm…am I….interrupting something? Guys?"

They both looked up. Paul was standing in the doorway, staring at them with almost a terrified expression on his face, as if he had walked in on a pair of madmen. Harrumphing and coughing, they both tried to regain some dignity….but upon seeing Paul take a cautious step back, they both burst out laughing again, this time even harder.

"Just…..just a disagreement…" Cate managed to get out. She scooted awkwardly over to David and pulled him up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

He yelped and jerked away, making a cross with his fingers. "Hell no woman! You're gonna give me mange!"

Paul looked from one hysterical vampire to the next, and wasn't sure if he should just leave, or join in laughing for good measure. "Guys…quit it with the creepy playtime….it makes me go feel like I need to take a shower in bleach….a lot of bleach….very hot bleach….I swear, if this is how you guys fight, then I really don't even want to know what the sex is like."

"Heehee, David, did we just scare the horniness out of Paul?"

"I…(gasp)….think we did."

"Ok, Ok….no more wolf jokes, Ade is still in bad shape…." Cate took a deep breath and finally managed to get a hold of herself.

"Aw, he wouldn'ta minded I bet." Paul said helpfully, glad that the laughing had stopped. "Probably make him feel good to know he made you laugh even while he was down….or something…"

"Ok….ok….ok…" David panted, catching his breath. "Heh…I actually did come in here with some news, before Michael took off like a – "

"Michael's gone? Bummer, man…"

"We're better off without him."

"Anyway." David coughed commandingly, still unable to stop smiling. "My news. Yes. MY news. We could possibly be getting some reinforcements."

Cate looked at him incredulously. "From where?"

"Santa Carla. I had a little talk with Rita…seems like she could pull a few strings, loosen death's grip a little…just a little, mind you" David cast a devilish glance at Paul, who returned it, confused.

"We don't know anyone anymore in Sant…oh holy crap David, you can't be serious!" His eyes went as big as dinner plates.

David picked himself up off the ground gracefully. "What, don't want a little family reunion?"

You have got to be kidding, man. That's….that's…"

"Genius" David squared his shoulders and smiled proudly.

Cate had gotten herself up as well and her previous amusement had gone dead cold. There was no joking around with something like this. She knew exactly what David was thinking. "Can she do it?"

"No!! Wait!! No!!" Paul looked from one to the other, being slowly outnumbered in votes. "You can't do that!"

"She says it's possible."

"In the name of all that's freakin holy and a vintage Les Paul, shut the hell up David! You're crazy!"

Cate gave Paul a look of death and he whimpered slightly. "He's…he's crazy."

"Maybe we need a little crazy right now."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Paul, step away from that. The last thing I need is for you to get your hair in it." Rita was bustling around her room, organizing what seemed like an endless collection of jars, books, papers, and ornaments. They were in her room, which was surprisingly small, considering her status in the clan. It was also packed wall-to-wall with some of the oddest things either of the vampires had ever seen. Antiques from practically every decade, strange-looking carvings, clocks, ornate bowls and jars…and books. Shelves upon shelves of books, stacked doubly in some places.

"David, stop touching that."

David withdrew his hand from a small statue of an elk carved in beechwood, pretending he hadn't even touched it in the first place. "What else do you need?"

"Nothing. Everything I need is right here. Right now, what I need is for you two to stop fussing about and stand still. Paul, sit there. No, not there, there! No! There!"

Paul bobbed up and down according to her scolding as if the surfaces he was trying to sit on were burning hot, until he gingerly lowered his behind into a low, thickly carved wooden chair at one end of the room. "Here?"

"Yes." Rita came over with a length of rope and began tying his hands to the armrests.

Paul winced, surprised that such an old woman could pull so hard and tie knots as tightly as she could. "Uh hey….I'm all cool with older women and the kinky stuff but I don't think now's the time."

"Keep it in your pants. David, over there."

David didn't acknowledge her direction, but sat down in the threadbare upholstered chair at the other end of the room as if he had been planning to do it by himself all along. "And the rope is for?"

Rita yanked the knots around Paul's forearms tighter. "Because when I use you two as vessels, its going to hurt. A lot. And the last thing I need is you rolling all over the floor of my room and making a mess and knocking things over."

He still didn't uncross his arms. Rita finished with Paul and came over to him. "David, now."

Slowly, he moved them until they were sitting on the armrests, and she went to work. "You never told us who is going to channel who."

"That's for you two to tell me. Like attracts like, so whatever energy is left from your friends will be attracted towards the living vessel that is most like them. If the vessel is too different, it'll be like me trying to force and elephant through the eye of a needle. Plus there's always the slight chance that as the energy passes through it'll leave some sort of impression on you…so better it's a trait or impression that you have already rather than something totally alien."

"Dude, I so get to channel Dwayne."

"Paul, you're as close to Dwayne as a rubber ducky is to a great white shark. You're channeling Marko."

"Oh jeez, but what if I get his hair or something as an impression?"

"It'll be an improvement."

"But!"

"Paul? Who is more like Dwayne? Huh? Who is more like Dwayne? Me or you?"

"You." Paul grunted darkly, pouting.

"That's right. You're too pathetic to channel Dwayne."

"I hope Dwayne makes you SHUT THE HELL UP MORE as he goes through you!!"

David growled and snapped his teeth at Paul.

"Stop it right this second or I'll leave both of you here by your entertaining but marvelously annoying selves!" Rita barked in her best grouchy-mother voice. "Quiet."

She slapped down a huge book on her bed and deftly turned to a bookmarked page, giving David one more glare before beginning to concentrate. "And don't think I'm relenting on my previous statement to you with regards to Cate when all this is over."

"I don't doubt your sincerity. But I'm not going anywhere unless it's with her."

David watched her read and almost felt a bit of hesitation. This wasn't going to be pretty. It was going to hurt a hell of a lot, and if Rita didn't know what she was doing, both he and Paul could end up dead. Well, they were dead anyway if they didn't try it…so why not? This wasn't white magic. This was right on the edge of black, and one step more could bring back all sorts of things that no one wanted to have running around. Rita was basically opening a huge door to a chaotic, swirling mass of spiritual energy, from everything alive, dead, and in between, and trying to find two specific energies she had never even sensed before_. Picking invisible needles out of an invisible haystack with a blindfold on._ The only guide she had was two small metal rings around each thumb, which she had dipped in David and Paul's blood, respectively. Considering their strange flip-flop between mortality and immortality, he wasn't even sure if there WAS any of Dwayne and Marko still in them, since they had sworn as packmates and exchanged blood so long ago. But it was the only thing she had. It wasn't like they had bodies to work with. Rita mouthed words to herself, making sure everything was in order before they were spoken out loud. David and Paul watched silently.

"Are you two ready?" Rita's voice had suddenly changed from its high-pitched, motherly tone. It was deep, almost throaty, and carried a strange dark tone. Neither of them responded, and she took that as a yes. She began speaking. It was a strange, musical, lilting language that didn't seem to have any end of beginning to sentences. Word after word came out of her mouth, never pausing. Very few things had ever sent chills up David's spine, but this was one of them. He vaguely wished Cate was there, but her presence would only make the ritual harder because she was not involved in it, Rita had said. He noticed Paul had closed his eyes and decided to follow suit. Just try to relax. Relax. He got to thinking about Santa Carla. He hadn't seen, felt, or smelled ocean in a while. It felt strange, and he wasn't sure he liked it. There was something about the comfort of having a border with the sea that he missed out here. Plus the fact that it was completely desolate, hot, and god-awfully boring here in Mesita…well, minus the crazy revenge-taking vampire and hellhounds and the like. Those were always good for a laugh.

No….?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!

He opened his mouth but no sound came out as it felt like someone had swung a pickaxe through the soft part at the base of his skull. A Mack truck crashed through his brain and exploded out of his eyes as white light and stars. Pain, indescribable, wrenching pain, pain so intense he couldn't even open his eyes, couldn't make a sound, couldn't move a muscle. Every single cell in his body was screaming as if something was forcing its way inside, scrabbling through his bones, through his organs, through his eyes and ears, and bursting out of the other end with a roar.

A ringing noise grew in his ears until it was a shriek, single-pitched, never wavering. It only took a few seconds more before he blacked out, and the shrieking sound receded like a train going back down a dark tunnel. And then there was nothing.


	6. Shot In The Dark

"Is he all right?"

"I don't know. He hasn't woken up yet."

"David? David, wake up!"

"His nose is still bleeding all over the place. Get a towel or something."

"Is he going to be ok?"

"How the hell should I know? I don't even know if we're ok!"

"You're fine. It's like you just woke up from along nightmare."

"Yeah, and into another one. Who the hell are you people?"

"Still bleeding. Tip his head back."

David felt his head being lifted and the smell of blood trickling down the back of his throat. He tried to open an eye, but the wave of dizziness that accompanied the movement caused him to quickly shut it again. The voices were woozy, floating, he couldn't make out who or what they were. He recognized his name, but the rest was garbled. The voices slowly became more recognizeable as his brain lurched into gear.

"He's coming round."

"Hey, David! It's me, Paul, Paul! Can you hear me?"

"Yes….now shut up…" David croaked, wincing as much as his facial muscles would allow at Paul's shout. "I'm not deaf….."

"Welcome back."

"Hi, David."

New voices. The lower one continued. "How're you feeling?"

David coughed, bringing up a bit of bloody spit, and managed to open one eye halfway. "Jesus Dwayne. You beat the blood-loving shit out of me."


	7. Tired Of Wasting My Breath

Tired Of Wasting My Breath

**Yes, I am updating quickly! ******** However, I am afraid I will need to take a week or two hiatus from writing after this chapter. However fear not, - the story shall finish, and ya'all will like the ending.**

Dwayne _had_ beaten the shit out of him. Even an hour later, when they were all still sitting in Paul's room and he had gone over the whole story with them, he still felt like utter hell. He was sitting groggily on the floor with Cate in the chair behind him, allowing her to rub his scalp through his hair. He ordinarily wouldn't have allowed such a display in front of the guys but…his head was killing him. And it felt good. And he was damn set on getting a sympathy lay out of this. Rita had let them alone for the moment, needing to sleep off the effects of the ritual. If she had been there, he would have been sure to give her pointed looks. _See? I'm not going anywhere…_

Marko still seemed like a baby bird that had been rudely thrown from the nest and into the Amazon jungle. His eyes were focused on Paul, wide and blinking with doe-like simplicity. "So…we're alive."

"Yeah, like before."

"Ok…and we're going to stay this way?"

"Far as I know."

Dwayne was a bit more accepting and seemed to take the entire event in stride, almost as if he had been expecting it. He had quietly thanked Rita almost as soon as he had come to, which immediately put him in her good graces. "How long do we have until Lath comes back?"

"Chomping at the bit aren't we." David murmured.

"Well, I want to get back home as soon as possible. Don't you?" Dwayne raised one dark eyebrow. Although he had settled with the fact that he had been brought back, he was still instinctively distrustful of being surrounded by new people.

David leaned back more against Cate's knees and let out a soft, contented growl as she moved her hands to his temples. "Hmmm. I do. You still don't trust me, Dwayne?"

"I never trusted you. And I trust her, and everyone else here, minus Dumb and Dumber over there, even less."

Paul and Marko let out a combined and therefore doubly indignant "Hey!"

Cate lifted her hands from David's head and snapped her fingers. All four turned to look at her, and she slowly stood up from the chair, her eyes locked on Dwayne. She had immediately sensed him as a challenge and was about to put her foot down. "I don't care if you don't trust me. Because if you want to get out of here," she drew one of her knives and began to pick her fingernails offhandedly, "you're going to have to."

Dwayne studied her. Dwayne was certainly not stupid, but he did not like change, because change distorted the carefully managed hierarchy that had once been their pack. Especially change that involved a female in the group. And even more especially, a female whom he could tell acted a lot like David. The last thing he wanted around was another fat-heated, trigger-happy vampire with a God complex trying to tell him what to do. Over the years he had finally convinced David that he was never going to be able to truly boss him around, and he wasn't about the spend time now convincing this new one that he couldn't be, either. Cate walked up to him, still picking her fingernails with the knife, and tilted her head slightly to the side. The corner of her lip curled in something halfway in between a smile and a sneer.

David remembered his thoughts of a month ago. This was quite possibly the most important meeting of the entire experience.

_She was a predator. A ruthless predator. _

_There was no mercy in those eyes; their beauty was overpowered by their fierceness. David had met few people, vampire or human, who he considered to be true killers. He fancied himself one, but secretly knew he couldn't ever quite reach the depths of cruelty and sadism that they did. Dwayne had been one. That was why David had convinced Max to pick him. Dwayne, with his quiet ferocity, only rarely letting the animal that lurked underneath his cool exterior out of its cage. _

Cate's smile widened.

Marko whispered to Paul "Is she crazy?"

"Oh yeah. You had better believe it man. Trust me. Craaaaazy as the moon"

Dwayne's expression remained stony, and David stood, not liking the tension that was building in the room. If anything went down between Cate and Dwayne, for any reason…Dwayne had better say goodbye to his short time back on earth. But suddenly, it was as if something clicked between the two pairs of dark eyes that were locked together. An understanding, a realization….and Dwayne smiled. He nodded. Marko and Paul looked at each other incredulously, and David's muscles relaxed.

"I can see why David likes you." Dwayne spoke softly.

Cate winked at him slyly. "And what about you?"

"I like you too."

David bristled slightly but Dwayne nodded his head towards him, as if to mollify his packmate's jealousy. "No worries."

"I wasn't worried."

"We just understand each other."

"We do." Cate replied, the strange smile still on her face, and David had to restrain himself from stepping up and giving Dwayne what he was asking for. This was why there had never been a girl in their gang. Jealousy. No girls, ever…._well, except Star, but Star didn't count. Star wasn't a bloodthirsty, smolderingly sexy fox._ But Cate turned and walked back towards David, lowering her head slightly and looking up at him out from under her eyelashes. _Don't think giving me bedroom eyes is going to keep me quiet_ he growled inwardly. But he had barely completed the thought before he realized she had pushed him down into the chair and slid sideways into his lap, and her fangs were gently, teasingly tickling his ear. _The words 'bedroom' and 'quiet' don't exactly go together with us_, he heard her reply_. I'll make it up to you….that is, if you're in good enough shape here in a while_

Her head moved down and she pressed her lips against his, forcing him to open his mouth slightly, so hard that he had trouble keeping his head forward. He could tell she was smiling around the kiss, and as she pulled back away she playfully licked the tip of his nose where a bit of half-dried blood still remained. He realized she was essentially marking him as territory in front of the guys…but he didn't exactly mind.

Nope…nope, didn't mind at all.

Paul hooted and clapped, and Cate shot him a wink and a grin while crossing her legs expertly one over the other and placing and arm around the back of David's neck.

"All right, boys. Now that we're all acquainted, let's talk business. If you want to get home, well, you're going to have to help us. Because if you don't, we're all dead. Quite simple."

"Paul, couldn't you…I don't know, talk to Lath or something? You said he was your packmate once."

"Marko, don't be retarded."

"I'm not being retarded, are you afraid of him or something?"

"Afraid of that little weasel? You really are retarded."

"Hello? Boys?" Cate raised her voice. "Are we clear?"

Dwayne dipped his head once in response. "Understood. And then we can all go back to Santa Carla, and your clan will leave us alone?"

"Agreed."

"All of us?"

"You're coming back to Santa Carla with us, aren't you Dave?"

"David?"

Three sets of eyes looked at David expectantly. Cate turned and made it an icy fourth. Refusing to squirm under scrutiny, David shifted in the chair nonchalantly and gave Cate a light nip on the chin. "Of course I'm coming back to Santa Carla. It's mine, isn't it?"

Dwayne rolled his eyes and Paul broke into smile, happy to finally hear people talk as if they would all be going home. "Sweet, man. We'll be runnin the streets again in no time. They couldn't get rid of us, could they Marko?"

"Nope" Marko returned the grin. He was finally settling in to the reality that he was alive again….but the need to get back to normal surroundings was pretty strong. "Can't wait."

Cate's eyes flickered momentarily, but that was the only reaction she gave away.

"Hey…" a small, weak voice at the doorway made them all jump. It was Adrian. Pale and unsteady, with dark circles under both eyes, but standing. He tried a smile and a step forward, but had to steady himself against the wall "What does a guy have to do to get some food around here?"

Cate was up and off David in a second flat and quickly put her shoulder in Adrian's armpit to support him. "Ade, what the hell are you doing up?"

"Eh…thought I'd go for a walk…"

"Who is that?"

Cate helped walk Adrian over to the bed and he sat down, almost falling over again. It was almost painful to see him. He looked like he had lost twenty pounds and a few gallons of blood overnight, and his eyes were still gray and glassy. His topline was matted down against his skin, shaved off in a few areas to allow some gaping cuts to breathe.

"It's the fuzzball." David grunted. He had a sneaking suspicion that Adrian had only gotten himself up as a sympathy ploy to get some attention from Cate.

Adrian raised a hand weakly and saluted the group. "At your service."

"Werewolf…?" Dwayne said quietly, halfway in between asking a question and making a statement.

"Yeah."

"What line?"

"He's a werewolf? Werewolves have lines? Why is he all beaten up?" Marko tried to ask all of his questions at once.

"Species make lines, lines make breeds, breeds make several varieties…"

"What are you now, Dwayne, an encyclopedia on weird furry shit?"

"Just more traveled and cultured than you, David."

"Eastern Europe originally…but my breed comes more out of Denmark."

"Denmark? That's a very new breed."

"Yeah…we're upstarts…" Adrian laughed wheezily. "Glad you've heard of us."

"A Romanian breed mentioned your line to me once. You aren't popular."

"Aw…jeez….oh well. Too bad."

Cate whistled to quite them down. "Boys, this is Adrian. Adrian, this is Dwayne and Marko. They're friends of David and Paul."

"Pleasure." Adrian exhaled slowly and Cate had to yet again steady his shoulders to prevent a collapse.

"You need to get back into bed, Ade."

"Eh…I can sleep when I'm dead."

"Trust me man, I'm dead and I haven't been sleepin that well lately." Paul replied.

Adrian shook his head briefly and his topline rose and fell like a little wave moving down his back. It was his own odd way of shivering. "I just heard some news…figured I'd bring it down since you guys have been cooped up here all day."

"News?'

"Yeah. Lath is back. Well, sort of. He's not attacking, he's just…waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Dwayne's answer was slow and calculating. He didn't like enemies that waited. It was always a bad sign.

"Waiting for me to come kick his skinny ass, that's what."

"Believe me, I wish that was it, David. But he's not just waiting. No one has been able to come in or out of the house so far. We've set all the defenses up, and he hasn't tested them…he's just preventing anyone from leaving. Anyone who even peeks out is shot at. He's got people and hounds covering every exit and entrance…even the hidden ones. He's done his homework."

"So there's no way out, as of now, unless we throw a Hail Mary and get half or all of us killed in the process of getting out?" The concern in Dwayne's voice was now bordering on distinct unease.

"Lath thinks he's going to put us under siege? Is he seriously that stupid?" Cate shook her head. "We have enough supplies to last us until judgement day, not to mention well water and enough food to feed an army, let alone the dozen or so of us. He's nuts. "

"I have a feeling he's not trying to starve _us_ out." Adrian's voice became even quieter, and his light blue eyes roamed from David to Paul to the newcomers.

"What ?"

"He's trying to starve _you_ out."

Silence.

"Oh…..BALLS…." Paul shouted and banged his fists on the floor violently. "The sonofabitch!"

"He probably figures that you guys will go crazy from lack of…of food….eventually, and you'll tear the rest of us apart. I'd say it's a pretty good plan, unfortunately."

Marko's stomach grumbled at the worst possible moment and he looked around, extremely embarrassed. "Er…sorry…."

"We have a few flasks of blood left over from hunting the past few days. Mostly wildlife but I guess you guys need something after your…your…trip." Cate sounded composed, but her mind was racing. She was already seeing the chain of events unfold in her mind.

Adrian would be the first to go. He was the weakest one. They would take him easily, like a pack of starving dogs bringing down the wounded antelope at the back of the herd. Then Rita would be next…old, powerful, but weakened, perhaps permanently, from the strain of bringing Dwayne and Marko back. The rest of the clan would soon follow, and then they would begin to turn on each other. She was pretty sure she could take Marko and Paul. Paul was inexperienced and Marko, bless his heart, looked like he just didn't have the brutality or skill in him. She was quicker than David, she knew that, but she couldn't match his strength. When he really let fly it was like his arms were made of steel cords. She had been on the receiving end of his strength only once, when they had been surprised by a gang in Arizona, and he literally picked her up by one shoulder and hurled her behind him, out of the alleyway so she could get a chance to load her crossbow. She had been so surprised she had dropped the first arrow. Dwayne was also another matter. When the understanding had passed between them, it was different than the understanding that she had with David. There was no attraction, no intellectual matching, no personality mesh. This was a recognizance of nature, pure and simple. They were both capable of things, murderous things, cruel things, ruthless things, that most people, even most vampires, were not. She loved David because he was a killer, but she feared Dwayne because he was both a killer _and_ merciless. And if it came down to it, and she somehow managed to kill David, a fight between her and Dwayne would end up with neither of them making it out alive. Even if someone managed to survive, they would either slowly starve, or go mad and fling themselves out of the house, only to be shot down by Lath's pack or ripped to shreds by the hellhounds. Lath's plan was absolutely brilliant. So simple. Like watching animals go mad in traps until they chewed off their own legs. She couldn't imagine being hungry enough to kill Rita, or Paul, or even David…but then again, she hadn't gone without feeding for more than a few days. What would a week do to them? Two weeks? A month? Could they last even remotely that long? She stood up from the bed and walked back over to David, who was evidently thinking the same think, his dark blue eyes locked on the floor.

_Cate, I wouldn't kill you. I'd put a bullet through my own head before I killed you. _

"A silver one, I hope." She spoke out loud quietly, and he looked up.

"What do you take me for?" he tried to sound playfully annoyed, but she could tell that the thoughts broiling behind his eyes were driving him mad.

_I swear by the blood in my veins I will. I swear to you by all the devils in hell, all the dead in the ground as well as on earth, everything living and everything immortal that I won't kill you._

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

A meeting had been called in the main room, and Cate immediately didn't like how it was set up. She and the Boys (she had noticed recently that she had unwittingly began thinking of them as a group with a capital B) were on one side, and everyone else, about a dozen young men and women, plus Adrian and Rita, were on the other. Everyone had been informed of Lath's plan, and now with the addition of two additional vampires, the clan was growing extremely restless and distrustful. The oldest of the men, a twenty-something, strong one named Baer, had taken it upon himself to be leader in Daniel's stead. He and Cate were involved in a blazing argument that had been underway for the past half hour, with barely anyone else having a chance to get a word in.

"Cate, you're loyalties are misplaced right now. We need to make an attempt to get out, or else we're all going to sit here and wait to die."

"If you try to leave now, without a plan, you're going to get everyone killed, you moron."

"Just because you've somehow developed a soft spot for these things, it doesn't mean that they have the right to be included in our decision making. Right now, my first and foremost concern is the humans of this clan."

Adrian narrowed his eyes at Baer, but the look went unnoticed. Baer was something of a zealot, having been dying at a chance to showcase his supposed leadership capabilities almost as soon as he could fire a bow. He was well-intentioned…but Cate could tell that he was relishing the thought of playing the part of the hero.

"These 'things' saved my life, and are here to help us save our own skin. We've made an agreement."

"Not an agreement with me. I say we're leaving. Within the hour."

"Baer, he has hounds on every exit as well as vamps. You'll be slaughtered."

"Better than waiting her to get sucked dry."

If looks could kill, David and Dwayne would have taken Baer down on the spot.

"Who's with me. Now or never. Your either with me, or you're with them. They're no better than the ones outside, believe me. Our only chance is to leave, now."

His voice held such finality that Cate knew the argument was over, and she had gotten nowhere. No one on Baer's side moved, and her heart sank. So this was it, the final standoff. It had been inevitable, but she hadn't expected it to come so quickly.

However, after a minute or two, Adrian wordlessly padded across the room, his feet barely making a sound. "I'm with them."

Paul grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. The lycanthrope winced, not expecting the friendly, yet rather hard, blow.

"Figures." Baer snorted, and shouldered his shotgun. "Guess you can never trust the things that follow you home. Come on. Get your weapons and whatever you can carry and still move quickly. We're going."

The rest of the group turned to leave, casting angry glances at the small, stubborn sect across the room. Rita stayed behind. Cate's voice took on an almost pleading tone. "Please, Rita, don't go with them. You know what's going to happen to them."

Rita sighed and looked from one person to the next, eventually coming back around to Cate. "Catherine…you know as well as I do that it's you who is in the wrong here. Come back to us, please."

"No."

"Cate, they aren't your family. We are."

Cate snapped her teeth. "They _are_ my family. They're my kind now."

Rita took one last look at the girl who had been almnsot her daughter for so many years, and then turned to leave. David put a hand on Cate's shoulder. "Leave her. It doesn't matter now."

"Cate?"

Cate turned to see Marko looking at her. She hadn't really spoken to this one much yet, and had pretty much written him off as the group puppy. David was the leader, Dwayne the second-in-command, Paul the entertainment…..but now, there was something deeper in his eyes, and she understood.

"Cate, it'll be all right. We'll…we'll take care of you. Don't worry." He smiled a lopsided smile and Cate felt her heart melt just a little bit.

"Thanks, Marko." she felt a genuine smile cross her lips, and Marko smiled back.

"So, Ade, you 're with us, huh?"

Adrian turned and saw David facing him, arms crossed. "Well, unless you're just going to throw me over the wall first chance you get."

"Hmm. Well. Truce? For the moment." David offered a gloved hand, half-reluctantly. He still really, really didn't like this guy….but, he had to give him some respect for choosing them over Baer and his idiots.

Adrian smiled and took David's hand. "Sounds good. No more furball jokes, though."

"Deal, mutt."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It was only about an hour later when, all of them holed up in Paul's room, they heard commotion outside. Screaming, howling, the explosion of guns and whine of arrows. Paul and Marko went to go see, but Cate didn't even want to know about it. Of course she hoped that somehow, some of them would make it through. But she doubted it. They were desperate, without leadership, and threatened from ones within the clan. Of course they were going to band together and follow the first coherent plan, no matter how foolhardy it seemed. In the space of a few days, what had been one of the most powerful clan of hunters in the west had been summarily dispatched by a single vampire.

Days! Only days!

Her head spun. It was almost incomprehensible, losing everyone this fast. Her family was being stripped away from her as if they were tied to speeding freight trains, and she could only try and run to catch up. The noise outside had slowed to a murmur, and Paul and Marko both came back with ashen faces. She didn't want to go outside and see the bodies. She didn't want to go outside and smell the blood, the entrails. The scene was already well-imagined in her head, and the sense of grief had come as soon as Baer had turned his back on them. There were no more tears to cry at this point. They were all alone now.


	8. Stupidity Tries

**Ok. I lied about the hiatus, I actually have more time that I thought! Probly two more chapters after this one. Enjoy! I hate having "new" characters without ever developing them….so here's a little insight into Adrian.**

It had been almost seven days since the last few reserves of blood had gone dry.

Adrian had actually been improving remarkably and was no longer walking unsteadily. His abdomen was still extremely tender and he still hadn't found a way to keep the wound from draining all over whatever shirt he was wearing….it looked rather like he went around with a watery spaghetti-sauce stain on his stomach….but at least he was alive. He was just psychologically a mess. His sister, Tara, had been out with the rest when they had attempted a break through. For the first few hours after the small band had left, he had paced and cried, knowing full well what was going to happen. Now the grief had settled down to a smoking simmer. He still paced, but not with the same fury or desperation as before. His gait was slow and uncertain, almost hopeless. He didn't even bother to return the only-barely subtle glances of the Boys as he passed by and they unconsciously licked their lips. They were hungry, and he was looking better with each passing hour. But he didn't care. He had resigned himself to the fact that if it came down to it, he didn't stand a chance against four of them. Five, including Cate. It was almost an acceptance, the kind of submission a deer feels as it sees the hunter's bow drawn taut. There was no escape, either outside the walls or within them.

He sat by himself in the hall at one of the larger tables, his lean arms outstretched on the worn wood, and forehead down. It was dark, ominously quiet. There were no more voices, no more discussions, no more comforting scents of people he knew. Once in a while, even though he knew he would recognize nothing, he concentrated to the best of his abilities and tried to pick up anyone. The only smells were stale, cold. Dead. He was sitting next to Tara's seat at the table, and every now and then, a tiny spark of her presence entered his mind. It was all imagination, true. It wasn't comforting, it was maddening. It was like being dropped into a separate universe where everything looked the same, but the people in it had gone mad. Both he and Tara had been picked up by Daniel as a pair of scruffy youngsters eking out a living in the rural countryside of Denmark. It was a rough, cold country, and the two were near starvation by the time they were happened upon. Two scraggly children with wild dark hair and blue eues. He had been only twelve, Tara nine, and neither had any memory of family or life prior to each other. It was a fierce bond between them, once that never diminished even as they were slowly reintroduced back into human society. She had been even quieter than he, even softer, without the witty repartee and falsely-confident bearing that he used to keep any would-be enemies at bay. She had never grown up.

Adrian snorted unhappily, feeling his breath come back into his nose from against the table. It smelled wet and snuffly, like someone had thrown him out in the rain. Tara had flourished under Daniel and Rita's gentle hand, and had even been beginning to smile by the time she turned fifteen. He had been almost painfully proud of her. The boys in the clan had even begun to notice her, and rather than feeling jealous or protective, he had been ecstatic. They were all great guys and he knew that she was in desperate need of a stable male presence in her life besides her brother. Especially when her brother's affections were drawn elsewhere. Drawn? More like wrenched with the strength of a thousand stampeding horss.

He had been seventeen and just starting to take his place as a newly christened hunter when Cate and Tobias were brought into the clan. He was scarcely able to take in the whispered story of kidnapping, torture, and everything else that had happened… His breath choked itself in his lungs, his eyes were unable to even blink. The icily beautiful girl of barely sixteen stopped his heart right in his chest like he had been hit with a thousand volts of electricity. Whether she had known at the time, he wasn't sure. All he knew was for the next two years he would have jumped in front of a speeding train if she had but nodded her head in that direction. They were both young, and he was still quite aware of his…condition, as Daniel always delicately put it. Friendships were of course encouraged between humans and non-humans, but relationships beyond that were considered dangerous ground. He never made eye contact with her, never touched her, always carefully positioned himself forward and with his hands in his pockets so that if she were to look at him, she couldn't see the line of fur running down his spine or the slight sheaths of his claws which were still apparent even in human form. Adrian had always been soft when it came to girls. Most of the young men teased or flirted, but he was never able to summon up his confidence in that direction. Tara even teased him about being a hopeless romantic. Her favorite terms of it was "puppy lover" to which he couldn't help but smile himself. Then was one day he was careless and forgot that Cate was behind him. He was adjusting the tautness of his crossbow string and felt a slight tug at his topline around the base of his neck and froze. Turning around slowly, he only barely managed to lift his eyes up to meet hers. She was so beautiful, he was afraid he would pass out.

Literally pass out, hit the deck, and be the laughingstock of the entire clan. But he hadn't.

He didn't even remember what she had said next to him. All he remembered was that was the first time she had even touched him, ever fully looked at him, and from then on it was all-in, heads-first love. Past infatuation, past anything he had ever felt before. Someone actually willing to look past what he was. It had lasted two years. It was the little things that had driven him absolutely mad with affection. The way she lowered her eyes when she was thinking, the was she played with his hair, the way he knew he was the only person who could actually make her smile, the way she kissed….especially, especially the way she kissed.

Around her, he didn't have to be the best, the bravest, the strongest, the handsomest (he wasn't any of them, he though ruefully. He was a lean-looking young man with sharp features, a bone structure that only a girl would envy, eyes that were just the right shade of pale blue to make people feel uncomfortable, and an unfortunate penchant for being softhearted). He only had to be Adrian. And that was what she wanted.

Two years. It didn't seem like it had been that long. Daniel had even been hinting that he had better start thinking of finding a ring. But for some reason, Cate suddenly began to balk. He never figured out why, but she distanced herself with alarming speed over the next few months. He begged, pleaded, said things he never would have ever though he would be capable of saying…but she was firm. And that was where it ended. He tried to convince himself it was because of who and what he was. Who could tolerate being with a beast….It was easier to blame it on something he himself did, that to trey and figure out what had been going through her head. In his mind, she was perfect. Absolutely perfect. It must have been something he did. To this day, he still didn't know what it had been. And then there was David. Damn it all, he couldn't hate the guy. David was exactly the kind of person Cate should be with. Someone who could match her in every way, including the darker ones.

Adrian pressed his forehead harder into the table, the grainy wood making slight impressions in his dehydrated skin.

He wasn't as cold as David.

He wasn't as tough as David.

Wasn't as strong, wasn't as magnetic, wasn't as masculine…..the list when on and on….

In fact, he felt rather inferior in every way possible.

Despite it all, he still couldn't hate him. He was what Cate needed, what she wanted, and it killed him to tell it to himself over and over…but it was true. _Why am I thinking about her when I should be thinking about Tara…._he chided himself, feeling a tear spring to his eyes. Sometimes, he hated how he couldn't emotionally stand his ground like so many of the others did. He could fight and kill with the best of them, but when it came to things like his, his heart was like candlewax. One flame and it would melt and be molded by anyone into anything. When he had been younger, he supposed it was charming. But now…now he didn't know what it was. There was no place for emotion now. A single hot tear fell from his eye and he snuffled, embarrassed. Sometimes he hated being this way. It wasn't his fault he had grown up with only a sister. Maybe it made him weaker, maybe it channeled his emotions along a more feminine path, but whatever it had done, it was times like these when he felt ashamed of what he was.

A strangled noise forced its way from his lips, like a suppressed whine, a dog that had just been kicked and was looking for redemption. But it wasn't held down for long. The muscles in his neck tensed as he opened his throat, letting the noise and all of the rage, fear, and self-hatred that came with it out to reverberate around the deserted room. It became a raging, high-pitched howl, filling the dead space of the high ceiling as long as there was breath in his lungs.

Outside, Lath's hounds put their ears back and growled to each other. They recognized the sound, and it wasn't one they liked. The howl of a wounded animal, a lone wolf with a broken leg feverishly keeping the rest of the hungry pack off. Something was going to happen soon. Even they could sense it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Cate felt incredibly nauseous, and from the looks of things, the others weren't doing much better. Paul had whined for the first three days, but after that even he got to the point where misery isn't alleviated by complaining. He was now moping around the house with Marko, who was trying to convince himself that if he looked hard enough, he might find a rat somewhere among the food stores. Dwayne had stopped speaking almost entirely but was generally still composed, while David seemed to be in a constant state of quiet rage. His limp had become painfully obvious, and he was aware it made him a target. Cate had forgotten about that. Now she was sure it would come down to her and Dwayne. Not something she wanted to think about particularly. It seemed hopeless, and the growling in the pit of her stomach didn't help convince her there was a way out. Either stay in here and die, or go out there and die. Going out and dying quickly was almost beginning to seem like a good idea.

Marko had shyly passed her a small flask that evening, and slipped back out of her room before she had a chance to ask him what it was. Unscrewing the top and putting it to her nose, she realized, with amazement, that it was blood. Not very much, but where had he gotten it? She smelled it deeper and recognized it. Looks like the Boys had taken up a collection….she wasn't sure if she should feel flattered or not. It was both a way of asking her to bond with them, as well as being chivalrous and trying to ease her discomfort. What the hell, she liked them anyways and was already undead…might as well, she thought. _Ha ha…this is great….eau de Lost Boys_. Base notes of leather and wood, that's Dwayne, with a middle ripple of a sort of sharp grassiness, that's Paul. A bit of a light, ocean-y smell, Marko, and topped off with the unmistakeable black-pepper scent of David, which she knew almost too well. It still made her eyes water slightly when she really took it in. _They should market it._ Her hunger made her giggle deliriously, but she drank it anyway.

"Enjoy?"

David was leaning against the doorway, lopsided smirk already in place. Pushing off the wood with his shoulder, he sauntered over to the bed and flopped down on his back with a grunt. Her fingers moved to the inside of his bad knee and began gently massaging and probing the damaged tendons. "Thanks. Tell the guys thanks too. Feels bad?"

He didn't reply, only stretched his body out like a cat in the sun, as if to indicate that she should keep going. His skin was deathly cold to her touch. Having just drank, her own temperature had risen back up to an almost human level, and it felt like touching metal in January. She moved her hand ever so slowly up along his inner thigh and he let out a growl of satisfaction that softened in pitch until it was almost a purr. Emboldened by the warmth flushing through her system, she only had to glance at the door to cause it to swing shut with a crack. David's eyes opened halfway "When did you learn to do that?"

"Practicing. There isn't very much to do around here now, is there?"

"Clever."

Now having some privacy, she gracefully slid over and lay down on top of him, putting her knees on either side of his hips and pressing her chest against his. Even through his clothes she could feel the chill of his skin. It was strangely sensual. His hands came up under her shirt and rested on her lower back, giving her momentary goosebumps. But David's mind wasn't completely focused. The vision of her simply looking at the door and having it slam shut bothered him slightly. She was progressing far more quickly than any of them had. He wasn't sure if it was because of something in her human bloodline or….well, if she was just well-suited to the change. He felt her mouth moved to his neck and tried to concentrate on enjoying the warmth of her body. He has kept his hunger in check the past week, although at times he had felt like taking a bite out of anything moving that passed by. Her presence was a welcome distraction. He tried to move his hands and realized that she was holding him in place. What? He tried again…but a thrill of shocks coursed through his wrists from her mind, as if to say "oh no you don't". At any other time, he would have found this a nice little game. Restraint and the like had become, well, for lack of a better word, popular in their sexual relationship. But this time, he actually felt a tiny twist of fear in his chest. He tried to tap into the bond and couldn't. Her thoughts were disorganized, messy, chaotic, and his voice couldn't get through.

It was at that second that he felt her fangs drive into the side of his neck. With a gasping intake of breath, his eyes rolled back in his head. She could have taken a two by four to the side of his head and it wouldn't have been half as unexpected. His first instinct was that of a trapped animal.

FIGHT.

She didn't know what she was doing. The bond was screaming with bloodlust. Whether she had meant to bite or not, it didn't matter now. She was both unable and unwilling to stop, and that meant he was under thirty seconds away from death.

Holy shit, fight her.

He clawed at the side of her body in vain. Her mental hold was too strong and his struggles were confined to mere jerks. Too strong even for him. Terror gripped him as he came to the stunning, but blatantly obvious realization that he had made a mistake.

_David has made a mistake…._

He had underestimated her. She had surpassed him, and now he was realizing by just how far. How could he have missed this?

"Cate" he tried to choke out but the words didn't come. He fought the wave of numbness that was coming over him. It was so inviting. So….calm. It bore down on him so quickly that his efforts quickly subsided.

"Oh God…" he tried to focus his eyes but couldn't. His vision was dark. The feeling was one of complete….rapture? Acceptance? Submission? He wasn't sure, but as it seeped into every crack in his psyche, he realized it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, really. Everything felt so wonderful now, he didn't understand why he had been fighting and struggling only a minute ago. There was a dim scream and a funny feeling of pressure at his neck…not pain, as his nerves were thoroughly dulled into a state of acceptance, but on odd, wrenching pull. But by the time the feeling registered in his head, the last sparks of consciousness were already fading. It was beautiful. His muscles relaxed completely and the brilliance of his dark blue eyes faded to a filmy cobalt gray, like a sky just about to rain, and David accepted the calming, almost humbling numbness that finally caused the world around him to go black.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"GET HER THE FUCK OFF!" A frantic Paul was screaming at Dwayne and Marko, trying to reach in and grab a hold to lend his own strength to the effort. It was pure luck, and not a moment too soon, that they had been passing by. Paul had walked on by completely unaware, his head bobbing along in time to the stone-aged tape player and headphones he had dug out of the backpack lashed to his bike. Marko had been the first to notice the scene in the room. Not being one to press in other people's business, especially David's, he sturdily ignored the pull of the mental bond between them as he passed. The door was closed, it wasn't his business, and he sure wasn't about to play psychic peeping tom on that was going on inside. But it was a sharp pang on panic that screamed like a bullet through the air from David's mind to his that caused him to pause, knock, and when no answer was received, go in. David was out cold, completely limp, and it was taking all of them to pull a ravenous Cate away from his neck. Her strength was amazing.

It was the strength of a frenzied, starving animal being dragged away from the only meal it had seen in months. Dwayne finally managed a clean shot and gave her a tremendous blow about the head. She dropped the ground immediately, her golden eyes flickering and rolling back in her head.

But that was all he could do. As Marko and Paul rushed to David, frantically trying to bring him back to conciousness "David! David! Marko, is he breathing?" "Yeah he's breathing but holy Jesus, Paul, what do we do?" "I don't know just…just…just get him up on the bed or something! Oh man…." , all he could do was stare at the senseless form on the ground in front of him.

This was it, the time for waiting was over.

They needed to get out. Now.


	9. This Is The Place Where Time Reverses

**Short, I apologize…but I was going for quality over quantity. Decided to stretch some descriptive muscles while keeping it concise. **

When Cate had come to, she had almost fainted again upon realizing what she had done. She had then proceeded to scream and fight so desperately that even Dwayne had trouble restraining her. As a last resort he dragged her, kicking and shrieking, down the hall and locked her in the room at the end. It was the only room that locked from the outside, and luckily Paul had discovered it a few days ago when he and Marko were rat-hunting. He had had a wonderful time sniggering and listening at the door after locking Marko inside, having claimed to have seen a rat in the room. It was the most fun he had seen all week, dancing around the door and gleefully chuckling as Marko cursed the door, then Paul, then whatever beast had brought him into the world. He had eventually let him out only to be greeting by Marko's small but extremely pissed-off fist, and a scrap had ensued that left both of them quite out of breath and scratched up.

In any case, it took quite a while for Cate to calm down; she had lungs on her like he had never heard. But eventually the curses and cries became quiet. He still didn't open the door. It was like quarantine for the first individual with signs of plague. None of them could take chances with her now. She couldn't be trusted, she could infect them all like a virus.

The hunger was spreading. It was like a flock of birds when one had hit a telephone wire. The symmetric V was gone, and they were swerving. But no one would move, no one would change course, because staying in that pattern was all they knew. They couldn't change their most basic instinct. And they would keep swerving until thy crashed. David was extremely woozy but had begun coming back around due to a drink from Paul's arm. He ignored all of their garbled, nonstop questions, rubbing one eyebrow with a shaky hand. He didn't know the answers, and even if he did, he didn't want to talk about it. Forget being injured, forget being weak and thirsty…he was betrayed. He wasn't sure whether to feel threatened by her, or furious that his charge has turned so quickly against him. Not just his charge, not just his child, but his girl. Half of him wanted to go down to the locked bedroom and beat the hell out of her. Beat the hell out of her and kill her, suck her dry, How DARE she?

The growling beast of his ego was pacing in his head angrily, waiting to be let out. It beat against the cage of his common sense, sticking its ugly muzzle in between the bars to sneer at him. After all, this was the cage that had kept it in check long enough for the body that hosted it to be almost killed, because of a mistake that it could have prevented. _I would never have let her get that close. I would never have let my guard down_. It purred to him in a guttural tone. But the other half of him knew that it was his fault for leaving himself so open. And he knew he couldn't bring himself to kill her. Anyone else would have their throat laid open inside a minute…but not her. Not her. He had made a promise, and was damn well going to keep it.

He was standing over the bathroom sink with the water running, staring up at his reflection out from under his eyelids. The face staring back at him was almost haggard. The usual dark circles under his eyes are turned to a sickening blue color. His white hair was limply mussed, unlike his usual fashionable spiking, and was turning a dull, brassy color. No more slick, snug black shirts and trenchcoats; the only thing he had one was a white t-shirt, streaked with dirt, so worn it was almost threadbare in a few places, and a pair of jeans he had borrowed from Adrian, who was a good twenty-five or so pounds under him so they were slightly on the tight side.

He sneered at himself in the mirror weakly, disgusted with the face that sneered back. Really intimidating. Yeah, right.

They had started to break at the seams, and he knew what was coming next. It would only be a day or two before the rest would follow Cate's example…she was powerful in some ways, but hadn't learned to control her hunger yet. They were much better at that than she, but even they had their limits. It was coming down to an ultimatum. Lath had to be challenged. Sitting around like ducks waiting for the poacher wasn't going to do one single goddamn thing. It was time to DO something.

And he knew what that something was. It wasn't going to be pretty.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Adrian took a quick sniff at the faint scent of evening air creeping in from under the front door. He was motionless, focused on the door-handle, which seemed to almost writhe in the dim light, begging him to turn it.

He stood still. He had stripped to nothing but the small silver chain around his neck that Cate had given him years ago. The thin metal traced its way around his neck like a cold, circular vein. For luck, she had told him, when he went out with the older men for the first hunt. Just for luck. But he had never taken it off. His topline was standing up straight all along his back advertising his tension. Like a greyhound in the slips, he was ready to go, ready to run. Except this time, he would be the rabbit, not the dog.

His hand moved towards the handle.

One mile to the road

Two miles to the valley

Two and a half total to the river.

The handle turned under his gentle pressure. He heard a soft, sleepy growling begin outside as the hellhounds sensed movement.

Two and a half miles.

The handle turned farther and he let his body take over. His topline spread outwards around his back and stomach like it was wrapping him in a cloak. Pale skin was replaced by a thick coat of fur, double-layered and rough. He felt his thighs extend and knees turn inwards, and he dropped down to all fours precisely, unhindered by the pull of clothes. As soon as his hands hit the floor, they were no longer hands - a huge pair of black-padded paws, claws clicking against the hardwood floor.

All the door needed was a push outwards.

The wolf lifted his upper lip, exposing a gleaming set of incisors, the canines hanging down like ivory icicles behind them. And, with a fluid but violent thrust, he threw his huge black shoulder into the door, exploding into the evening outside.

The chase began.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The eruption of howls from outside brought everyone, even David, rushing to the window. Marko got there first and stood alongside the window frame, gingerly peeking around it. The last time one of them had tried to look, a silver bullet had crashed through the glass. But it seemed like their captors were distracted. There was no weapon, no bullet, nothing. It was like they had turned all of their attention away from the house on to something else. There were human voices amidst the cried of the dogs, but they were only barely intelligible.

"Get them back!"

"They're all going for it, call them off!"

"God dammit, they won't listen, beasts!"

Marko's eyes grew as big as dinnerplates as he watched hound after hound joined a huge, thundering pack, all of them taking off around the back side of the house as if they were chasing something. It was as if someone had thrown a truckload of tennis balls across the field. "They're going –"

But David had already gone to the windows on the other side, making it there by the time Marko had finished his sentence, despite his weakness. The entire hellhound pack, at least thirty of them, was taking off away from the house in a single mob, barking and frothing. There was barely a space of dead air in between them, they were so closely packed it was like watching a shoal of fish. In the lead, only a few lengths ahead of them, was a huge black dog. No…not a dog…

"Call them off!" Lath's distinctly shrill voice could be heard over the caucophony.

"Holy….." David murmured. It was Adrian, he was sure of it. Hellhounds, like Rita had said, were only barely controllable. If something seemed more interesting to them than their human master, they would do their own thing. They were owned by no one, they only did another's bidding until something better came alone. But the wolf didn't look like he was cutting and running. There was direction in the his escape. He was leading them. Leading them where? What the hell was going through that kid's head? But there wasn't time to wonder. Right now, without the hounds, was the only chance they had at fighting their way out. Whether Adrian was pulling the martyr card by leading the pack off, he didn't know, but he didn't really care either. "Get Cate, now! We're getting out."

The other three Boys had caught up with him. Dwayne took one look outside and his dark eyes hardened. "Where does he think he's going…."

"Fuck me sideways…"

"Paul, shut the hell up." Marko's voice was tinged with misery.

"I don't know, but right now we have one shot. Get Cate out of the room, we're going."

"David –" Dwayne began, not liking the hell-bent-for-leather tone that had entered David's voice.

"We're going!" David whirled and drew himself up to his full height, snarling at Dwayne. The ego-beast had gotten halfway out of its cage, fighting through the gaps in the bars. _I told you so, I told you so_. He wasn't about to be second guessed, not even in a wounded state. "I'm in charge, and you'll damn well listen to what I say. We're leaving."

The time had come, whether they were ready or not

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Earth flew up in clods under the wolf's feet as he urged its muscles to the breaking point. The hounds were faster, no doubt about it, but he had the advantage of heightened agility. Every time he ducked around a rock or zigzagged around an outcropping, they lost whatever slight gain they had made. But there was still over a mile to go and his legs were screaming in pain, his lungs heaving under the exertion. Froth dripped from his mouth as he pushed forward, tongue lolling in a desperate attempt to gain more breath. He couldn't falter, couldn't trip, not even once, or they would have him.

He raced along the side of the valley, paws thumping against the ground in an unyielding rhythm and green eyes scanning the horizon desperately for the telltale steam of the water cooling in the evening.

Daniel's thick, grandfatherly voice from years ago was intoning softly, over and over, in his head. _The river was held sacred by the native tribes here. In fact, they still consider it an integral part of the culture of Mesita. They call it their Little Mother. When the missionaries came to this area, they immediately recognized how important this river was to the people, in a spiritual sense….so they decided to try and use that as a means to integrate the natives into the church. They brought two bishops, both of whom blessed the river in the name of Christ and renamed it, marking it as a holy landmark, touched by holy water from Rome itself and at the hand of venerable men. But the natives never ceased to consider it theirs. It had been part of them, their people, their religion, for too long. Blessed or not by the Christian missionaries, it was still their mother, and it is to this day._

He only hoped the story was true. If not….he didn't want to think about "if not". Millions of gallons of holy water would wipe out the entire pack…when he jumped from the top edge of the valley, he knew they would all follow him in, like rabid lemmings. Even if it worked, he still had to find a way to swim out. Little Mother did not live up to her soft, feminine name. She was ravenous, as fast and deadly as a riptide, spotted with rocks and whitewater. All it would take was one collision to break his legs, break his ribs, or knock him senseless, and he would drown. But it was a chance that needed to be taken.

Brown dust stuck to the moist, dark skin of his nose and he coughed in mid-stride, trying not to break the pace. Just keep going. Keep going. Keep going.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

_Why are you doing this?_

_Do I need a reason?_

_Everyone has a reason._

_You didn't answer my question. Do I need a reason?_

_Of course you do._

_Wrong answer. I don't need a reason. I don't have a reason. I just want to see you dead._

_Because of my clan?_

_No._

_Because of the others here?_

_No. You aren't listening. I don't have a reason. _

_You must._

_I don't. All I want is to see your guts spread out across this field, yours along with the rest that came out before you. It's very simple. No rage, no revenge, nothing like that involved. I just want to see you dead._

_You're insane._

_Perhaps I am. Or maybe I'm the culmination of everything you admire in a killing machine. I don't need emotion, I don't need a reason. I just do what I do. Why, don't you? Or are you still tamed? _

Cate sat with her back to the door, her eyes closed and head down. To anyone else, it would have looked like she had finally passed out from the exhaustion of screaming. But in reality, her mind was abuzz with energy. Lath was speaking to her. At first she had blocked him out, but her anguish over what had happened with David had weakened her defenses. She held her finger in the hole in the dike for as long as she could until the whole thing cracked, and Lath swept into her mind like a torrent.

_What do you want?_

_I already said what I wanted. Don't try and give yourself up for them. I'm not on a vendetta. I don't bother with that. Just wait and see._

The breath was shallow in her lungs as she listened to his voice. She knew well enough that insanity was contagious, and he was trying to break her for good. He had gleaned all the details of their current state from her mind, and she could tell he was delighted. The little shocks of pleasure she could detect in his tone were enough to tell her that his confidence was growing by the minute.

"Cate!"

But that wasn't Lath. Her head whipped upwards and she opened her eyes, ignoring the sniggering, strident voice in her head telling her to ignore what she heard.

_You tried to kill him. He's not going to come for you now._

"Cate, we're going, now!"

The door handle rattled furiously and she shook herself from her concentration. By the time she had gotten to her feet, the door had swung open and all four of the Boys were standing outside, all breathless. Marko and Paul both looked mildly terrified, but a look from Dwayne wiped the fear from their faces. He wasn't about to let them get her all riled up. He spoke before David could "We need to go, now. We have an opening."

Cate only barely heard him as she threw herself violently against David, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her mind repeated over and over _I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry_….He grunted with surprise and gently disengaged her arms. _I know. Later. Later, child, love, we have to go._

"An opening?" her own voice sounded strange in her ears as she peered over David's shoulder at Dwayne.

"Adrian made a run for it. The entire pack took off after him."

Cate's jaw dropped and she stared dumbly back at him. "He made a run for it? What the hell do you mean he made a run for it?"

"He just up, turned and left…" Marko answered.

"Why did he do that?"

But David was already pulling her away from the door, and the rest of them turned as well. "I have no fucking idea, but we'll deal with that later. Come on. Are you ready to do some killing?"

Cate's head spun as she tried to keep up with them. It was like being jerked back up to the surface from being underwater too long. "Wait –"

"No time for waiting."

_Wait_

_Wait_

_Slow down_

_Too fast_

_Cate, we can't slow down._

They were at the front door, still ajar from when Adrian had left. Not even pausing for an instant, David shouldered his way through, the rest following. Outside it was just beginning to get dark…but it wasn't dark enough to hide the numbers they were up against. They paused, waiting until Lath's pack had turned, one by one, facing them with a combination of incredulity and excitement. Finally, they actually got to do something, fight something they could see. Muscle flexed, tongues licked ragged lips, and weapons clinked as they were lifted. _Not a good move, kitty._ Lath's sly voice came to her one last time, as she looked over the enemy in front of her. She couldn't tell where he was…but he was there somewhere allright. That crazy sonofabitch was there. Dwayne had already turned, his heavy features twisted in a growl that would have struck fear into the heart of any seasoned warrior. Marko and Paul had taken up ready stances, the amber light beginning to glow in their eyes.

"Only a score of em. Shouldn't be impossible." David growled, practically licking his chops. He glanced at Cate and saw the smirk on her face. He broke into a mad grin at the sight of it, and she caught his eye. A sharp exhale of breath, halfway between a snort and a chuckle, came from his mouth, and she smiled wider, her eyes burning.

Unable to control themselves, they both broke into laughter. Hyenas, both of them, hell bent to kill, hungry and cornered. They had both passed the mark of sanity, and the only thing on their minds was blood.

_Are you ready?_

_Of course I am._

_Now you'll learn to enjoy killing._

_Believe me, I'm going to enjoy this._

_I love you_. Her eyes glinted with feral viciousness

_I love you, too_. He slid his tongue over his fangs.

And charged.


	10. I Could Never Be The Puzzle Pieces

**One more chapter after this!**

The liquid running from the wolf's nose was beginning to be tinged with the light, coppery color of blood. The small vessels in his heaving lungs has finally burst under the exertion and were leaking. But he was there, sprinting along the edge of the riverside, thirty feet up from the water, paws pounding the turf.

But suddenly, one leg refused to move forward. The wolf yelped as he realized his forepaw had fallen into a small depression in the ground, and he tumbled forward like a great black snowball, head over heels, limbs flying this way and that. Behind him, the lead hound, one of the huge white ones that had killed Daniel, shrieked in delight upon seeing its quarry fall. But the wolf was close enough to the edge now, and he knew what do to. He couldn't hesistate a second. As soon as he felt his pursuer's jaws clamp onto his back legs, he shoved his body over the edge with one last colossal effort.

Down and down the two interlocked animals fell, like a hellish, bloody ying and yang, black and white, twisting in mid air. The rest of the pack didn't even hesitate, leaping after their prey. They had no sense of reason, no sense of hesitation – they were so close to their prey they could smell the fear, and they were in a frenzy. The wolf hit the river, and it felt like hitting concrete. Dimly he felt a crack of bone as his left ribcage hit the water first and he went completely underwater. It was freezing from the evening air, and he only barely managed to avoid taking in a breath of surprise. But the coldness was only short-lived. A wave of intense heat came through the water, and what little vision he had became completely obscured with thrashing foam and a curtain of miniscule air bubbles. The waves came over and over. He couldn't hear the yowls of pain, but he knew that it was working. It was working! He tried to orient himself, find the surface. For all he knew, he could be swimming down to the bottom of the lake instead of the top. His weak limbs floundered, unused to the sudden change between earth and liquid. It was right before he began to panic from lack of oxygen that he felt his nose break the surface, and he thrust upwards mightily, jaws snapping the air as if to bite an unseen enemy.

But there was none. Nothing. The churning water and the steam rising from it was all he saw. A small yelp came from his mouth, half triumph and half terror, as he both realized that his enemy was gone, but that he was being swept downstream far more quickly than his limbs could prevent. His jaws continued snapping, trying to grab a hold of anything sticking out into the water – an old tree root, a log caught between one of the many rocks – and paws scrabbling against any slab of stone he could fine. There was to be something to hold one. There had to be. If he couldn't find something to hang on to, his strength was going to give out within a matter of seconds.

His muscles were completely spent, and it was if the nerves in them had ceased firing, like a circuit overload. He pushed himself off a rock in the middle of the river and was swept towards the left bank. There was a long piece of wood, the remnant of a fallen tree, sticking only about four feet into the water. He gnashed his teeth and forced his legs to move, to swim, to do anything to get close enough to grab it. He snapped his jaws, missing the wood by under eight inches. In another half second he would have passed it by completely. The speed of the water was unrelenting. She had tasted death and wanted more, unwilling to let this last victim go. His ribcage throbbed with pain, he was sure he had broken some bones, but again thrust his front paws forward and snapped.

Nothing. It was then that there was a sharp tug at his neck, so abrupt that he almost choked. The silver chain around his neck was digging into the loose skin of his throat fiercely. It had gotten caught on something. His paws felt a small tangle of roots underwater, just under his chin, and took advantage of the slight reprieve of movement down the river (_Just for luck, Ade. It looks good on you_). He snapped again. This time, the very tips of his incisors caught some of the bark of the wood. He flailed with his paws and the right one hit, and he dugs his claws in desperately.

They slipped.

He flailed again with the left, and this time he got a firm hold. It was then that his muscles locked up completely. His claws were in far enough to hold him in place, and he weakly used his teeth to bite on to the wood and drag his broken body upwards, half out of the water. The root holding the chain snapped, allowing him to continue in a half-jerking, half-slithering movement. Draping himself over the log, he was only barely aware of his surroundings. He wanted to sleep so badly. Just sleep. Just a little bit. Secure for the moment, the wolf's eyes closed, and he slipped into an exhausted but content unconciousness.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Cate?"

The voice was so quiet. She wasn't even sure she had heard it. If she knew where her body was, she could have opened her eyes…but right now, she could no more do that than start to fly. Everything was black and soupy, thick, and smelling of blood. There wasn't much else she could recognize.

"Cate, get up."

The swirling of vertigo in her head settled as she felt a slight pressure on what she guessed was her neck. Heaving itself into orientation, her brain finally connected with her eyes and they opened slightly. At first, she could see nothing but a crusty brown color. It took her a while to realize that it was blood caked to her eyelashes. Struggling to open her eyes wider, she slowly became aware of her body parts. Her arms were in front of her, her legs behind, and she felt something hard against her stomach. _I'm on the ground_. Her fingers twitches faintly in a spasm, trying to get a hold in the dirt to push herself upwards.

"Easy, easy."

The voice was too soft to be David's. Cate finally managed to turn her head and saw a pair of curious blue eyes staring at her, framed by a mussed and dirt-caked head of curls. It was Marko. "Hey, Cate, can you move?"

"I –" she coughed, the words scratching her throat. "I don't know."

She _didn't_ know. She still wasn't sure what had happened. The last thing she remembered was going headfirst into the fray with David. She had struck first at the vampire closest to her, and everything had gone black. She couldn't remember a thing. She managed to roll over onto her back and stared upwards, sucking in a breath as the movement caused something somewhere in her limbs to hurt.

"You…" Marko hesitated, as if he was unsure of how to phrase what was coming next. "You just….."

"Just? What?"

The earth vibrated beside her as she felt Dwayne step over and sit down, pulling her up into a sitting position. "You don't remember?"

"I don't remember anything." She looked around in utter confusion. There was nothing. The entire field was bare. There was the occasional knife or gun littered about, and patches of burnt grass, but nothing else. "Where are they?"

"It's probably best you don't remember." Dwayne replied, his voice soothing and firm at the same time.

At any other time she would have pressed him for answers, but she was still only halfways in the land of the living. "Where's David?"

"He's gone out to find Adrian."

Cate slowly began to piece together what had happened. She remembered Adrian running off, with the hounds in pursuit, yes. She remembered being dragged out of the bedroom and outside, yes. She remembered the feral look in David's eyes, feeling the surge of fury within her own body, and….again, her mind stopped point blank.

"Don't try to remember Cate. It happens sometimes. It's happened to me. Sometimes you just don't remember."

She looked over at Marko again. From the slightly fearful look in his eyes, she could tell she had done something bad. Very bad. Or maybe, not so much bad, as just frightening.

"Is she okay?" Paul squawked from somewhere behind her.

"She's fine."

"Christ, good. You're one helluva crazy one, there, woman."

"What…what did I do?" And at that point, she realized what she had done. Or at least, had some faint idea. When Dwayne said that sometimes people didn't remembered, he meant losing themselves in the fury of bloodlust. It was like waking up from a night of drinking and having no idea how the whole house got trashed around you. "And Lath?"

"David took him down. It was….over quickly."

Cate leaned against Dwayne's shoulder and took a huge breath. In a strange way, now that she was waking back up, she almost wished she remembered. Everything had been leading up to this, she had been so eager, so furiously eager to rip apart every single one of them… Dwayne stood and gently picked her up by the armpits. She obliged and balanced on her feet shakily, holding on to his shoulder while Marko threw his arm around her waist to keep her up. Paul brought up the rear, and as Cate looked over he shoulder, she could see that he looked almost as wary of her as Marko.

"We're going back inside now." Dwayne stated quietly, as if there was no way anyone could possibly argue with him.

There wasn't.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Just as daylight was beginning to break, David came back, lugging the alive but badly battered body of the black wolf behind him using his trenchcoat. The wolf made small whining noises at being dragged over the rough ground, and yelped weakly as Dwayne and David both heaved to lift him off the ground. Bones were broken somewhere, but it wasn't life-threatening. Once inside and in bed, Adrian finally was able to make the effort to turn back to human form. A few ribs were cracked and muscles strained, but other than that he seemed to be all right. The wound in his stomach had amazingly stayed closed despite the exertion of his run. As soon as he had presence of mind to speak, he had asked for Cate. David had grudgingly given them a few moments, muttering something about fleas again, to which Cate had replied with a silent glare. She closed the door behind her and, after sensing him holding true to his promise of leaving her be, walked across the room and settled down on the side of Adrian's bed. He smiled weakly. "Hey. Tell David he can have my bike."

"Why?"

"After dragging me a few miles on his coat, I think he deserves it."

Cate cocked her head, watching him blush slightly as he averted her gaze after a few seconds. He was always a blusher, and she used to think it was one of the most charming things about him. The rosy color seemed to soften the sharpness of his cheekbones. His features seemed sometimes almost feminine when he blushed, only offset by the intensity of his eyes.

"Hey."

"Hmm?" he glanced up at her shyly.

"You're wearing the chain I gave you."

"For luck, right?"

"Guess it worked."

"Yeah."

The next silence bordered on awkwardness. Adrian cleared his throat slightly. "I don't want to stay here."

"Neither do I. Not after all this."

"Are you going to go with them?"

"Who?"

"You know…them."

"I don't know." Cate had been playing with the though in her mind. Her grief had been overcome by a sense of…purpose? She wasn't sure. Rita was gone, Daniel was gone, and Tobias was certainly gone. Everyone was gone. It had been a frightening feeling at first, but now it was slowly becoming accepted. She needed a family, that much she knew. Underneath the cold shell, she had always needed family. Family was the one thing you could count on, the one thing that would remain stable no matter what happened. In a way, she was beginning to think of the Boys as family. Crazy? Perhaps. David was certainly the closest to her. The thought of going back to Santa Carla with him, staying with him…it definitely brought a nice butterfly feeling into her stomach, but her ever-present logical side was doubtful. Adrian interrupted her thoughts, his voice soft and awkward.

"Do you love him?" 

"David?"

"Yes."

"I do." The words came out without hesitation. Explaining exactly why was impossible, and Adrian saw the frustrated look in her eyes as she bit her lower lip, trying to follow up her answer with cogent reasoning.

"Don't feel stupid. It's not something you can really talk about, is it?"

"Not really."

"Yeah…I know the feeling. Cate?"

"What?"

"What did I do to make you fall out of love with me?"

_Ohhhhhhh booooyyy_…And there it was, the million dollar question. Finally articulated, it hung heavily in the air over both of them. Almost as soon as he said it, Adrian's brain caught up with his mouth and he regretted it. Not exactly the most appropriate question regarding the circumstances. His pool-blue eyes stared hard at the dull white of the sheets, brow furrowed, hoping in some odd way that she would forget the question. But she didn't.

"You didn't do anything. I just got…I don't know, scared?"

"Scared? Of me? Cate, you're never scared of anything, cut the bullshit, allright? Give me some credit." he tried a lopsided smile, but his facial muscles were quivering, with nervousness or exhaustion, she didn't know

"Ade, please stop."

"No…right now, we're both about to go in opposite directions for the rest of our lives and I want to know why."

"I don't know why. I'm sorry." Her voice took on an edge of frustration. "I wasn't right for you at the time, I didn't deserve you at the time. I didn't deserve anyone."

Adrian sat up slightly in the bed and scooted forward, wrapping his arms slowly around his knees and bringing his face closer to hers. Despite the decreased distance and the graceful confidence of the move, his words were still forced and bashful. "At the time…."

"Yes, at the time."

"What about this time?"

"Please stop. I hate these conversations. I'm no good at them." Cate moaned and reached over, putting one hand gently behind his neck, as if to soften her words with a conciliatory gesture. "I don't love you. Not like that. Now please, stop."

Adrian swallowed hard and his head dropped slightly. He had pushed too far. Stupid, stupid. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

Silence again.

"Do you want to come back to Santa Carla with us?"

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"I don't like being the extra wheel. I guess I was thinking of just heading back east over the pond."

"By yourself."

"I can handle myself."

"I know, it's just….I don't want to never heard from you again."

Adrian looked up and smiled halfheartedly. "I'll always be easy to get a hold of. For you, anyways. If you ever need anything. But I think those guys will take pretty good care of you. Not like you need much taking care of, anyway. You were always pretty self-sufficient. You wouldn't even let me open doors for you."

"Are you pretty set on it, then?"

"Yeah. We both need to get out of here. But right now….you're happy, and it isn't my business to go messing around with that…as much as I would want to at least try."

"I do love him."

"I know. It makes sense. You're very like each other. And I can tell he loves you too. Not that he'd ever admit it…"

"Yeah, that sounds like David."

"True. But he does." It pained him to say it a little, and he hoped she hadn't heard the tiny crack in his voice, but it was true. He could tell just from the way David looked at her, the way he moved when she was nearby. His scent even changed…it became more protective, more intense, more thick with emotion.

Cate gave the back of Adrian's neck and gentle but brief rub and slid off the edge of the bed to her feet. "Are you going to be ok tomorrow?"

"I just need some sleep. I'm going to head out tomorrow, see if I can catch a flight."

"Do you need money? Anything?"

"Naw, I'll manage." His small features cruved into a smile. "But thanks for the offer….I'll see you tomorrow…or wait….tonight, I guess. Since it's pushing seven a.m."

"Yeah. Tonight, I think we're heading off."

Cate's hand was touching the doorknob when one last attempt issued from Adrian's mouth, even quieter than before. "You know I still love you."

She didn't respond immediately, letting the wave of pain find its was from her throat to her chest and down, down, out of her body. "I know. Goodnight, Ade."

She opened the door and closed it softly but swiftly behind her. Adrian slowly lay back down in the bed, not sure what to think. He hadn't been sure what to think for the last few years. "Night Cate…." he whispered to no one in particular, and tried to let all of the confusion in his brain settle down and give way to dreams.


	11. Shiva Opens Her Arms Now

_I've been looking forward to this_

_Fighting for your lady in white, are you? How charming._

_I'm not here for talking_

A feint to the right and a block, punctuated by the sound of teeth snapping the air like a bear trap.

_Obviously not for fighting either. But you can't expect much from a little California hood_.

No response. Another charge, another block, but this time David's left shoulder was lowered and Lath staggered under his opponent's weight. With an expert whirl on his heel, he shifted the movement of their two bodies so he fell on top of David, bracing himself with one arm and raising the other to strike. Despite his fury, David was incredibly alert. He felt, rather than saw, the blow coming, and rolled. Lath's fist hit the ground, and the younger vampire sprang back to his feet before David could retaliate. _Quick little thing. Like a snake._

David knew when he was being baited. He didn't respond, letting his senses take in every one of Lath's movements. Every breath outwards, every bead of sweat on his opponent's forehead, every twitch of every muscle was caught and analyzed behind his seething amber eyes. He was high fighting gear, like a violin tuned up to the point that its strings screamed to break, and every tiny sense was intensified. He could dimly hear struggle in the background, but it was too dark to see much. The thud of bodies, howls, grunts, the occasional death-gurgle…that was the only indication that anything was going on. His mind detached itself from the fight for a split second, wondering where Cate was. There was a slight spasm in his thoughts as he probed for her mind and felt nothing. A crazy slideshow playing at thousands of frames a minute galloped through his head – Cate fighting, Cate injured, Cate dead, Cate dying, dark hair matted with blood and spilled out around her head, her face pale and lifeless like a china doll, eyes glazed to an dull opal green, eyes that would never be able to look at him again with that look that sucked the breath right out of him although he'd never admit it to anyone, not even her - and it was that moment that Lath took advantage of his distraction.

They crashed to the ground together, teeth snapping and blows flying like a pair of street dogs brawling in the pit.

_You should have heard her when we were taking her. She cried like a child, begging us to stop. Can you imagine her begging? After a while she got so used to it, she didn't fight any more. She probably even enjoyed it. I bet she likes being tied up, doesn't she? Does she let you take advantage of her? Does she like it rough?_

And that was the last straw. David remained completely silent, but the roar in his head became almost deafening in his own ears. With a heave he pinned Lath to the ground, ignoring the biting wounds inflicted upon his back with his enemy's twin silver blades. He couldn't get a deep shot, not in this position. With a knee to the groin, he stifled Lath's attempt to draw his knees up and force him off. Lath drew in a painful, surprised gasp, realizing that he had gone too far. But the realization came too late as he felt a viselike grip around his neck, crushing his windpipe so hard it felt like it was being mashed up against his spine. He struggled, slashing with the knives, but it did no good. Panic was taking hold as he realized he couldn't breathe. David' face was right up against his, almost emotionless. Hard and cold, like it was carved out of slate

_I want to watch you die_

Lath tried to cry out but no sound could come. _Unexpected. This was unexpected. You've made a mistake. _The pain buzzed along his neck and into his head, and spots began to dance in front of his eyes like a tiny parade of death, millions of miniscule fireworks signaling the last few seconds of his life. He struggled but David's hold was like steel.

_I'm not going to bite you. I'm not going to stab you. I'm going to hold you like this and watch you die. Look at me._

Lath's head was swimming and, if he could have drawn breath, a maniacal, forced chuckle would have escaped his lips. The insanity of knowing one was about to die.

_Look at me._

He couldn't. His vision was nothing but blackness and shooting stars, and the blood pounded in his ears. His body began to spasm from lack of oxygen, and the last feeble electrical shocks in his brain only barely registered David's words. They were the last thing he heard.

"Look at me. You're going to die right here, right now, because of what you've done, and when you're gone I'm going to bury you right here and spit on the ground."

David watched as the body beneath him shuddered over and over…and then more slowly…and then stopped. The arms around his back fell, and he heard the dull clatter of the knives against hard dirt. His back was on fire with pain, but he barely felt it. He let go of Lath's neck and sat back, his eyes still locked on the now upturned whites of his kill's. He reached to either side, picking up a knife in one hand…and a rock in the other. He hesitated a moment, watching the body's muscles slowly constrict in the beginnings of rigor. But then he saw Cate. He saw her chained, saw her mouth open in silent screams as one after another after another of the pack took her, violently, until her legs could no lon ger hold her up and she hung by her wrists, limp and crying. The knife buried itself in Lath's still heart, and the rock in the other flew down witgh the scream of a hawk.

A sickening crunch echoed through the darkness and it connected with Lath's lifeless head, crushing bone, brain, and muscle. Hot, coppery liquid spattered across David face, but his hunger was not as powerful as his hatred. He didn't bother to drink, didn't even bother to wipe his face. The rock came down again, now slippery with flesh and fluid. The slimy feel of brain splattered again against David's face. He still felt nothing. Again. And again. And again. He wished it wasn't dark. He wanted to see the mangled heap of that sneering face, the face that had taunted him, the face that he had seen in Cate's dreams, when she woke him up in the middle of the night, twitching and crying, and he saw what she saw. That face leering at her, deriving an almost orgasmic pleasure merely from her agony.

The rock kept coming down, over and over. The sounds of battle around him were growing quieter, but he wasn't paying attention. All he wanted was to destroy everything, everything that he hated, everything that had hurt Cate, and turn it into nothing.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………….

_Dwayne was right. It had been quick._

She saw it as he was sleeping. Ironically, he was sleeping as soundly as he ever had. Part of her was in shock at the ruthlessness. But the other part was strangely exultant, almost delighted. She had probed as deeply as she could, trying to feel the rock in her own hands, feel the fading pulse of the vein in the neck between her clenched hands, tasting the blood. But he turned and made a small noise, and she didn't want to wake him. The tiger, done for the day with killing and now a sleeping kitten, lying up against her with one arm draped gently around her shoulders. The same arms that had choked the life out of the one thing that had tormented her more than anything else in her entire time on this earth.

She snatched back her mind as David grunted and opened one eye sleepily. "Hey."

"Hey."

"What time is it?"

"Pushing six."

He opened his other eye and stretched under the sheets, growling contentedly as his joints cracked. "Six."

"I want to come to Santa Carla with you."

David propped himself up on one elbow, and raised one dark blonde eyebrow thoughtfully. "Hmm. You do."

"I do."

"How did you know I was hoping you'd say that?"

"A hunch, I guess."

He leaned in a sneaked a quick kiss and nip below her ear. "Good."

"How will your boys take it?"

"I wouldn't care. But they like you, so it's not a problem."

"One thing…if I come along, I'm still not killing real people."

"Real people? As in non-scumbags?"

"Right. And I expect you, and them, to do the same."

David's eyes opened wide and he lay back down, snickering to himself, only half-confidently. Well, this was it. "Wow. You drive a hard bargain, there."

"That's my one condition."

"Cate, don't be stupid. You know what you are, and what we are. Do you seriously expect us to do that? Give me a break." But in reality, he knew that he'd do it anyway. If she had told him he could only drink blood from orange tabby cars with three legs for the rest of his life, he'd do it.

"You did it before."

"Yeah, but that was just me. Try convincing the rest of them."

"I think I could already."

"And how is that, pray tell?"

"You think you own Santa Carla, don't you? Well, you don't." She ignored the questioning, slightly angry look in his eyes. "The thugs do. The lowlifes do. The kind of people that snatch little girls off the street and turn them into drug mules, the kind of people that kill each other's family over a few dollars. Instead of just thinking it isn't your problem…."

"What, you want us to be superheros? I don't care about the morals of Santa Carla. I care about eating." David sniggered.

"No. I'm just giving you a challenge. Make the city really and truly yours."

"And what about when all the scum's been wiped away?"

"Scum is never wholly wiped away. Trust me."

"Interesting, I'll give you that. Interesting idea."

"Think they'll go for it?"

"They just might. Appeal to ego, and you can get everything."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Adrian had already left by the time the five had gotten packed up and ready to go. Cate understood why…goodbyes were never his strong point. True to his word, he had left his bike. David graciously didn't accept, but passed the bike on to Dwayne, who agreed incredulously. So, with Marko and Paul squashed on to one, David and Cate on the second, and Dwayne on the third, they headed out for California as soon as the sun was down. The other three had accepted Cate's offer. Paul and Marko had been thrilled to actually have a plan, a goal, almost a game, and were arguing over superhero names. Dwayne seemed thankful in a strange way. Despite his ability to kill without a second thought, Cate knew that he had never been entirely pleased with the idea of innocent death. And David, well, he was doing it for her. Plain and simple. He may not like it, but the idea of losing her took precedence. She hugged her arms around his waist as they made the turn onto the highway, and realized she didn't feel like she was leaving home. She felt like she was going home.

She hugged his waist harder and heard a low vibration of pleasure in his chest and throat, just under the growl of the motorcycle.

_Thank you for this. _

_No need for thanks. I love you. You know that's why._

_I love you too. Now let's get out of here._


	12. Author's Note

**And that's all folks!**

**Currently fiddling around with a possible Flatliners fic.**

**Ciao!**


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